Percy Jackson and the Daughter of Water
by WalkingAlone2
Summary: Percy finds a new demigod and she proves to be more powerful than most of the Camp crew, except for our very own Percy Jackson! Except she seems to be on the side of the Olympians. But she has some other intentions in mind, including stealing Percy away from Annabeth. Story better than the summary, read and review! My first fanfic, so be supportive! Thank you.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any other characters related to him. All rights go to Rick Riordan. **

**Percy POV**

"Truth or Dare?"

Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, narrowed his eyes at Annabeth, daughter of Athena. She was notorious for her merciless tasks and questions that she gives, which is one of the main reasons why no one wanted her to play. She's only in the game because everyone could tell that I wanted her to play.

My girlfriend smirked. I was glad to be on her good side and not one of her enemies. Or in this case, not one of the people who has to go against her in Truth or Dare. I was glad that our relationship made it through the Titan War back in my preteen years and this last war with Gaea. Ever since tumbling into Tartarus and tumbling right back out through the Doors, the things we saw, the things that were said to us, the pain we went through, just brought us closer to each other.

I felt a pang of guilt when my eyes trailed to the spot that she took Ethan's sword for me. Why wasn't I there to stop him? Even though Annabeth keeps telling me that I've repaid her over and over again, I still feel guilty.

As if sensing my guilt, Annabeth reached back and held my hand, calming me down a little.

Finally, Leo sighed. "Truth."

Annabeth brightened as if she expected the answer and cleared her throat. "Do you like Thalia?"

Leo's breath seem to catch in his throat. Thalia looked up from sharpening her arrow, which didn't make her look any more inviting. Jason and I stifled a laugh as we watched Leo carefully.

He sighed. Nico rolled his eyes. "Just say yes and get it over with."

Thalia whipped her head towards him, scaring him off his log and onto his back. Everyone started to laugh, but I heard a quiet, "Yes."

I turned towards Leo and he was clenching his jaw. He just answered Annabeth's question, but Thalia, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Frank and Hazel were too busy laughing to hear his question, while Nico was too in pain to concentrate.

He looked at me, as if just realizing that I heard what he said. He seemed to plead with his eyes, _Don't make me say it again. _

I just grinned and nodded my head. When everyone else recovered from their laughter, they all turned to Leo. I spoke up. "He already answered. You all just missed it."

Annabeth cocked her head as if she didn't hear me right. Her gray eyes pierced through me. "What do you mean he already answered? Are you sure that you didn't imagine it, Seaweed Brain?"

I gave her my crooked smile, and I could swear that I saw some pink rush to her cheeks. "He answered your question, and I am not repeating it. There's no rule that says we have to answer it so everyone hears it. As long as someone hears it, it's valid."

Annabeth looked as if she was going to explode; she wasn't used to not planning for all the loopholes in something that she does. It was kind of funny, but I knew that I was probably going to have to pay for it later.

Thalia looked long and hard at me, then shook her head as if trying to clear her mind of some strange idea. "Anyway, Leo, it's your turn."

Leo blushed a little. I figured I was safe since I just saved his behind from endless teasing and embarrassment. Leo turned to Jason. "Jason, truth or dare?"

Jason looked up from caressing Piper's hair. Ever since the adventure with Gaea, the couples that made it through the battles were showing much more affection than usual because we missed the normal chances that we had to be normal.

"Dare."

Leo grinned. "I dare you to kiss Hazel."

Frank's jaw dropped to the ground, as Nico widened his eyes in realization of the task given. Thalia looked at Leo as if getting ready to kill him. Annabeth raised an eyebrow, I looked at Jason, who had gone white in the face. It was a strange look for him, the rugged son of Zeus who looks like he just saw a ghost (which, with Hazel, he probably was.)

Piper coughed suddenly, and cleared her throat. "I think I hear Chiron calling us to the dining pavilion."

Leo, having too much fun with the dare, held up a finger at Hazel and was too busy watching Jason.

Jason's jaw clenched and got up. Everyone watched him as he walked over to Hazel and kissed her on the cheek. He grinned cockily at Leo. "You want to use loopholes? We can do the same, Flame Brain."

We heard hooves clopping and we looked back, expecting to see Grover. Instead, we see Chiron. "Why are my nine counselors not at the pavilion?"

Piper looked at us, holding Jason's hand. "Told y'all."

I personally wondered if she used some advanced form of charmspeak to have that happen. Annabeth leaned over to me and whispered, "I wonder if she used some form of charmspeak to call Chiron over here."

I leaned back and smiled. "I was just thinking that."

She rolled her eyes and punched me in the arm. "We both know that you're called Seaweed Brain for a reason. Don't lie to yourself."

I sighed. I got up, following everyone else, but I felt a light tug on my arm. I looked back to see Annabeth pulling me towards the water. "Come on, Percy. I have to talk to you about something. And it's important. But first you have to promise me that you'll still talk to me and be friends with me."

I looked straight at my girlfriend as my mind processed what she just said. What could she have to say that would make me not want to talk to her and be friends with her? I just clenched my jaw and walked up towards the most peaceful spot at Camp Half-Blood for me with Annabeth at my heels.

I heard my father's voice in my head. The two words that he sent me on my birthday back when I was turning fifteen. Two words that didn't help my swirling thoughts about what the daughter of wisdom had in store for me.

"_Brace youself." _


	2. Chapter 2

**Percy POV**

We climbed up the trail that curved around the mountain at Camp Half-Blood and we came to an area that was shut off by three huge, ancient looking rocks. The ground beneath us must have been like 10 miles down, a long way from the ground.

Water from the beach crashed down from beneath us. I wasn't worried if somehow I slipped and fell because of my heritage, but Annabeth seemed to have a completely different perspective.

Annabeth followed close behind me, looking around in disbelief. "What are we supposed to be doing here, Seaweed Brain? The fissure is blocked; unless you're Hercules and I somehow missed it. What if we fall? We'll die! Or…I'll die. Then you'll probably feel bad."

I couldn't blame her for being a little scared; the drop reminded me of the drop to Tartarus, even though I wasn't the one hanging off the ledge. The feeling must've been multiplied for her.

But I had my thoughts somewhere else. I was trying to think why Chiron hasn't sent a search party for us yet. We've been gone for at least 45 minutes trying to climb up here, and especially since Chiron told us to go to the pavilion, the fact that he didn't look for us was strange.

Maybe he knew that something important was going to happen.

Like Annabeth might break up with me in my special place.

This realization dawned on me as I was staring at the rocks. The same place that I had gone to after Annabeth and I kissed each other underwater, the place that I had gone to after we put Gaea back to sleep, the same place that I had visited hundreds of times to clear my head.

"Hello? Earth to Seaweed Brain?"

Her voice jarred me back to the reality that there were rocks in front of me. I closed my eyes and emitted a low growl from the back of my throat. A sensation that felt like I was flexing my abs erupted in my stomach, and the mountain started to shake.

Annabeth grabbed onto me for dear life as loose rocks fell down to the ocean. "Percy? PERCY!"

I exhaled, and the three ancient looking rocks moved away; the one on the left moved about 5 feet to the left, the one to the right moved about 5 feet to the right, and the one coming from the top moved about 5 feet up.

It created a little manhole that a regular person of 6'0 could slip through. Luckily, Annabeth didn't have to worry about being too big because her 5'9 and lithe figure suited her well.

She looked at me in shock. "When did you learn how to do this?"

I gave her a dry smile. "Something that I didn't tell Annabeth Chase? Impossible."

She fake-glared at me and picked up a small rock, throwing it at my head. I easily dodged, and slipped through the manhole.

She huffed and followed me. When I was in the cave, I looked around and smiled; I was at peace already. When Annabeth slipped through, her jaw was down to the ground. "What….is….how….who…."

I could understand her amazement.

The rock ceiling was about 50 feet high, but the jagged shape of the rocks made it seem slightly cozy. Ancient drawings and illustrations from the Greeks were etched into the walls, and streams of pure blue water flowed everywhere; down the walls, on the ground, and a waterfall was erupting from the ceiling at one point, collecting the water in a little pool type of structure. Exotic blue sparkling flowers were growing from the ground, and diamonds glittered all around the ceiling and the walls. Straight ahead of us was a huge opening where the sunlight poured in, adding the divine touch that my place deserves.

Annabeth still had her jaw to the ground, looking around at the beauty of this place, so I decided to answer her question. I had to admit, it felt good to explain something to Annabeth.

"You remember when I made Mount Saint Helens erupt? Well, I've been practicing my powers over the earth and rocks and different stuff like that."

Annabeth murmured, "Son of the Earthshaker…."

I smirked. "That's what Hephaestus called me when I was…when he was talking to me in the Labyrinth. He said something like 'You're the son of the Earthshaker, lad. You don't know your own power.'"

I continued. "So, after the Titan War, I heard my father's voice bringing me here, and I opened up the cave involuntarily. Ever since then, this is where I would go to clear my head. A lot of people think that I'm the cool type of person who never gets agitated or nervous; well here is where I let it out at. Usually after nightmares or other times during the night."

Annabeth looked at me, her blonde hair falling over her forehead. My brain started to jump on little details that I noticed, like the fact that the stress lines that used to be on her forehead were gone; she was peaceful. The gray streak that both her and I acquired because of Atlas had disappeared. She had actually combed her hair and it looked like it was actually done…maybe the Aphrodite cabin or Hazel's doing.

She moved forward and looked outside the huge opening. I followed her and she gasped. "This is beautiful!"

The ocean surged beneath us, sea green and glittery. A couple of hippocampi leapt out of the ocean and dove back in, adding to the view. Mountains were in the distance, and seagulls were flying over.

The entire view calmed me already. I turned to Annabeth before I could lose my nerve. "So, what did you have to tell me?"

She stared at me. Then, she nodded as if she made a decision. "Look, I'm sorry, but-"

I cut her off by kissing her, soft and passionate, because I was afraid that I wouldn't get a chance to do it again. She was taken aback for a second, then kissed back just as passionately, which could've been a good thing or a bad thing.

When I pulled back, she looked at me. "Percy, what's wrong?"

"Look, I'm sorry for whatever I did to you. I want you to forgive me, and I don't want to lose you and-"

The words just kept spilling out until Annabeth kissed me lightly again. "I'm not breaking up with you, Seaweed Brain." She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.

I stopped and looked at her. "What?"

She laughed, the most beautiful sound to me at that moment. "No, it was just that Thalia had dared me to not talk to you for a week, and I took her up on it. She dared you the same thing, but I don't think that I could do it. So I was going to ask you what you thought."

I wrapped my head around what was just said. I looked out towards the ocean. "Yeah, Wise Girl. It's fine. I'll still talk to you. Plus, we have that empathy link that Hestia gave us."

Annabeth smiled. She held out her hand. "Let's go take a swim."

I looked at her; she wasn't dressed to swim. She had a gray v-neck on, and jeans that she rolled up to her knees. She looked beautiful, but not ready to swim.

Then she said, "Just create an air bubble. I'll be fine."

I grinned and whispered, "Annabeth?"

She whispered back, "Yes?"

"I'm going to push you off the cliff now."

"Wait…what?"

I pushed her off the cliff and jumped down after her and her screaming.

I caught her before she hit the water and created an air bubble before we hit the water. We sunk through and watched as multicolored fish swam past us. Their thoughts were scrambled, but when I passed, all I heard was _Lord! Lord! Can I get your autograph?_

I just shook my head and kept going deeper with my girlfriend (not like that!) She grabbed my shirt and pulled me towards her, kissing me. I kissed her back and kicked her out the air bubble. She screamed and I laughed. "YOU HAVE YOUR OWN BUBBLE!" I screamed to her.

She seemed to understand, as her bubble was smaller and more personal. She swam towards me and bumped bubbles with me.

"NO YOU DID NOT JUST BUBBLE BUMP ME!"

She laughed in her bubble and swam off. I chased after her, and she said in my mind, _'Race you to the floor.' _

I gritted my teeth and swam down after her. Annabeth turned to look at where I was compared to her, and she waved at me. I stopped swimming and looked at where she was and what was behind her.

"ANNABETH! SWIM OVER HERE!"

She didn't notice the huge squid that was sucking her in with its mouth. It shot a tentacle towards her and grabbed her.

She screamed and I got out Riptide. I crushed my bubble and I could feel the crushing cold temperature of the sea water. I zoomed towards the creature and hacked off the tentacle that trapped my girlfriend. Annabeth swam out of reach as the squid roared in my ear.

I turned around as it was sucking me into its mouth. I threw Riptide on a frozen rope straight into it's mouth. If the squid had an esophagus, Riptide went straight down there. The animal started to choke, thrashing violently in the water. Then, it stopped moving. It sunk all the way down to floor, and was motionless.

Annabeth swam over to me and held my hand with her bubble hand. I looked at her and kissed her bubble, making her laugh and calm her down. Then, Annabeth's eyes went wide. I looked behind me and saw this huge ice structure that was behind me. The squid was probably protecting the structure, or the structure was its home.

We swam to the structure and I looked around. It was as if someone had put an ice bomb at one spot, and when it exploded, the blast radius turned the water around it to ice. It looked like a bomb had exploded, and the explosion was captured in ice.

Annabeth and I swam to the center, and she asked slowly, "Who…is…that…?"

I followed her gaze and my breath caught in my throat.

Facing us, in a huge sphere of ice that was in the center of the ice explosion, was a girl. Her skin was chalky white from the ice, and her body was tinted with frost. Her eyes were ocean blue, and her hands were reached out as if pushing somebody…or some_thing_ away. Then, a roar erupted from behind us.


	3. Chapter 3

**Percy POV**

The squid roared again, and I realized that Riptide was in my pocket again. I never realized that once Riptide returned to my pocket, that it wasn't in the animal's stomach anymore. That blew my mind, but I had bigger things to worry about.

I got out Riptide, and looked around at my surroundings. I didn't have much time because the squid swam headfirst at incredible speeds towards me. I heard Annabeth yell, "PERCY! INCOMING!"

I waited until the squid was about to run me through when I swam away towards the ice structure. It kept swimming and at the last minute, I swam to the side. The squid reminded me of the Minotaur where it wasn't able to turn corners sharply. It continued and rammed its head into the ice structure. The ice started to crack, and I realized that the girl was still in the ice.

Annabeth had the same thought, except a little more developed. She thought in my mind, '_Percy! If the ice shatters, the girl is dead. For all we know, she's still alive and is in suspended animation. For all we know, she could've caused this herself. But we need to make sure that she doesn't die. She could still be alive." _

"_I am not melting some dead girl out of ice! What if she's hostile? Or better yet, what if she's dead?"_

She was silent in my head for a second. '_Remember Thalia? This could be the same thing.' _

That hit where it was supposed to. Thalia was in a similar situation and we revived her with the Fleece. Now, she was one of my best friends and my cousin who does good in the world as the lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis. I nodded and swam towards the squid. I hacked at its back to get its attention, but I realized that the squid's head was stuck in the ice. It was struggling frantically to remove it, but for each attempt, the ice was breaking more.

'_PERCY! DO SOMETHING!' _

I thought to when Poseidon told me in my head to brace myself. I wonder if this is what he meant. I sped over to the structure, and swam to where the girl was at. I put my hand on the ice, and concentrated on melting the ice. I silently thanked my father and all the private lessons.

My hand covered itself in a blue glow, and the ice started to melt. The girl's arm, then shoulder, then head, then other shoulder, then arm, then leg, then other leg was released from the ice and into water. She was still in one piece, thank the gods.

Her skin color returned to a tannish color, and her hair fell down over her shoulders and down her back. Her eyes became much more alert, but they were still the ocean/icy blue that they were when Annabeth and I first saw her. She took a huge breath and I thought she was going to drown.

She exhaled. She looked straight at me, and I looked at her. She could breathe underwater. Who is this girl?

She looked at the huge squid as it shattered the rest of the ice structure, freeing itself. The squid seemed to notice that its prisoner was with me and attacked me.

The girl pointed towards the creature and she blew into the water as if she was blowing out a candle. Every movement she did was smooth and deliberate, making her look like something more than human every time that she moved.

Ice frost came from her mouth and froze the water that was in the line of her pointed finger until it got to the squid. She opened her hand and the ice tendrils grew until the entire water around the squid started to freeze. The thrashing stopped as the squid froze completely, turning him into a sailor's dream; a lifetime supply of seafood.

She looked at me, and Annabeth swam towards us in her bubble. She looked at the girl and waved at her. "Hello-"

I put up a hand. "Maybe we should go up to the surface first."

Annabeth blushed and nodded. "That would probably make more sense."

I swam up towards the surface and let the current take me to the shore of the beach of Camp Half-Blood. I stood up and dried my cargo shorts and my green underarmour workout shirt. The silver trident around my neck gleamed in the sunlight. I prayed to my father. _Dad, please allow me to help this girl out. _

A seagull hit me in the head and flew out towards sea, which I took as a sign that my father heard me. He has a weird sense of humor like that.

I watched as Annabeth and the girl washed up on the shore also. Annabeth walked over to me and hugged me; I could tell she was pretty shaken up. I kissed her on the forehead and hugged her back before she turned to face the girl.

I watched as she stood up in the sun. She was maybe about 5'8, with _long _raven black hair that went to the middle of her back and some that fell onto and in front of her shoulders. Her eyes weren't electric blue, but they were a deep ocean blue. Her skin was tanned, as if she came from Hawaii. She stood confidently as if she had saved us from a huge monster. She was breathtakingly beautiful, and even though Annabeth would kill me for saying it, she and Calypso were about equal in beauty. She had the naturally perfect thing going on, and it looked like she knew it, but she didn't act like she knew it. She wore a long, pale blue dress that looked old-ish. (**A/N: For an image of what she looks like in my head as I was describing her, follow this link; . **)

She looked at me, then to Annabeth. She tilted her head slowly.

"Esý eísai to sýzygó ti̱s ?"

Annabeth frowned. "She's speaking Greek. Now I wish I had paid attention in Chiron's linguistic classes."

I cleared my throat. "Xiapete!" That was hello in Greek; it was one of the only words that I knew by heart.

Annabeth punched my arm. "This is serious! We need to find out who-"

Annabeth stopped when the girl started laughing. It was the most beautiful sound in the world; light and carefree, as if nothing else mattered on Olympus. She noticed us looking at her and tried to stifle it, but was looking at me and still smiling. She must've thought I was funny.

"Eiste asteio!" She stepped forward and kissed me on the lips, soft and loving, and I could feel her tongue pushing against mine.

Annabeth stepped forward and pushed me away from her, glaring at me with a full red face. She then looked at the girl, who was closing her eyes.

"Art thou her consort?" Her voice was smooth as silk, washing over me and sending chills down my spine as she bore into my eyes; ocean blue to sea green. It held an accent, but it didn't seem like a modern one. It sounded Greek, with a hint of British. It was very classy, and somewhat sexy in a way.

I frowned. I should've paid more attention in Chiron's class when he was talking about Greek mythological terms…I discarded the Greek mythology content of the class because I realized that it wasn't mythology. And then I realized that she kissed me to learn the English language. But…why was she speaking in such old terms when I speak modern English?

Annabeth blushed vigorously, and shook her head. "No, I'm not his consort. I'm his girlfriend."

The girl cocked her head again, as if she didn't know what the term _girlfriend _meant. "I do not understand thy diction."

Annabeth frowned and thought for a second. "No, I am not his consort. What art thy name?"

The girl nodded in understanding. She took a second to think, then said, "My name is Rhode…."

She paused for a second, analyzing Annabeth, then took two strides towards me, kissing me again in the same way. After a second, she stepped back and closed her eyes again. I looked at Annabeth helplessly, and she looked like she was going to explode. But she kept her cool for now.

The girl exhaled and opened her eyes towards me. "Hey, guys. My name is Rhode. And I don't think you two understood what I was saying. First, I asked if she-"

She beckoned towards Annabeth. "-was your consort. It means a person that you have sex with, pretty much. You two didn't understand me, so then I kissed you to acquire the language. When she pushed you away, I only got the exact English translation of the language I was speaking. So that's how it came out differently. But the girl knew what I was asking. Then she said no, but said that she was your girlfriend. I didn't understand what that was, so I had to kiss you again so I could acquire the modern version of the language. I apologize if I caused any trouble. My name is Rhode. No last name, I don't think."

I was still looking at her when Annabeth stepped on my foot. I winced as she smiled at the girl who called herself Rhode.

"That's a beautiful name." Annabeth was making conversation.

I frowned. "It is? I was wondering why her parents named her after a black strip of pavement. That's weird."

Annabeth rolled her eyes as Rhode laughed; despite her change in language, the laugh was still one of the most amazing sounds that I've ever heard in my life. "You're silly. No, Rhode means island. That's why I have this name."

I grinned; she was pretty cool already. "Like that state? Come on, let's go get you some food and stuff. You must be hungry after being stuck in ice like Captain America or Aang, the Last Airbender."

She looked at me curiously. "Who are those people?"

I laughed. "Yeah, you have a lot to learn."

I turned and waited until Annabeth caught up with me, held my hand, and continued on with us.

Even her walk was smooth as ice. She looked at me. "How were you able to breathe underwater? Are you a demigod?"

I looked at Annabeth who shrugged. "Doesn't hurt. We just killed a huge squid and released her from maybe a thousand year prison. It wouldn't hurt to tell her."

I turned to Rhode, who was watching me intently. "Yeah. I'm a demigod, son of Poseidon. And this is my girlfriend-"

"Annabeth." Rhode finished for me. Annabeth frowned. "How did you know my name?"

It was Rhode's turn to frown now. "I honestly don't know. But I do know that I am hungry. So lead the way…what's your name?" She looked at me.

Wait, so she knew Annabeth's name, but not mine? That's weird…

"Percy Jackson."

She looked at me with those ocean blue eyes, and I could have sworn that there were waves swirling in them. She said a phrase that turned Annabeth against her already, and that put me in an uncomfortable situation.

"Percy? I like Perseus better."


	4. Chapter 4

**For what she looks like in my mind, ** . and scroll down.

**Percy POV **

"Yeah, guys, this is our new friend, Rhode."

I beckoned towards Rhode as Grover, Nico, Thalia, Jason, Piper, Frank, and Hazel sized her up. After picking the guys' mouths off the ground, I went through their names.

"The one with the furry donkey legs is unfortunately my best friend, Grover Underwood."

Grover looked offended. "It's satyr to you, Jackson!"

I grinned. "Now you sound like Leneus."

Grover's ears went pale. "Oh no, not him!"

We were in the dining pavilion, filled with bustling kids, music, bullying, food fights, and invisible servants that were swirling around the room. The warm air was comforting, but it seemed like it was growing thicker by the second.

My blue chicken had just came out the oven and was whisked to my seat.

Rhode laughed at Grover's reaction; causing everyone at the table to stop and look at this girl. I cleared my throat as Annabeth was tapping her foot quickly; the gesture she always does when she's trying to control herself.

"The pale, vampire looking one is my friend and apprentice, Nico."

"Apprentice?" Nico narrowed his eyes. "Son of Hades," he stated.

I grinned. "The one with the blue eyes that shock you and with the powerful aura is my best friend and technical cousin, Thalia Grace."

Thalia winced at the sound of her last name, but forced a smile. "Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and the lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis."

Rhode smiled. "Grace…that's interesting. Like one of the Graces in ancient Greek history, the oldest one is named Thalia…that's cool."

Thalia paled as if Rhode just threatened her or something. I kept going. "The one who looks all rugged and muscular, and I say 'looks' for a reason, is Jason Grace."

He waved and smiled. "Son of Zeus and praetor of Camp Jupiter of Romans."

Rhode nodded respectfully. "What's Camp Jupiter?"

I looked at Rhode. "I'll tell you later."

I looked at who was next. "The one who looks like Ariana Grande is Piper McLean."

Piper rolled her eyes at the comparison, but Rhode frowned. "Who looks like who?"

Everyone laughed at her cluelessness. Grover smiled. "She reminds me of you and your Seaweed brain, Percy. That's a coincidence."

Piper cleared her throat. "Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite."

Rhode looked stunned, and almost lost her balance on the chair. She stared at Piper and looked at her for the longest time, sizing her up and seeming to figure out where her weak spots. Finally she tore her gaze away from Piper and to me, her jaw clenching and unclenching.

What was that about? Could it be that she was the daughter of Aphrodite? No, that's impossible. No child of the love goddess could do what she can do. Maybe she's enemies with the goddess of love. That wouldn't be a first.

I coughed. "I'm ignoring that comment, Goat Boy. The big one with the baby face is Frank, son of Mars and the girl next to him is Hazel, daughter of Pluto."

I looked at Rhode to see some type of confusion in her face about parentage of the gods, whether or not Greek mythology was real, whether she believed me or not, or if she had any questions.

She had no type of confusion. She looked at me as if to say, '_Are we done now?' _ I scratched my head.

Annabeth asked, "So you're not taken by surprise by the parentage and stuff? All of us have inhuman demigod abilities that we can all utilize, and we're thinking that you're a demigod also."

Rhode looked at Annabeth in a sort of irritated way. "I already know that, daughter of Athena, how do you think I froze the squid? Luck?"

Our table in the dining pavilion got quiet despite all the noise in the dinner hall. Campers moving all around, plates being whooshed around, and calming music being played in the background.

Everyone looked at Annabeth, who pushed her plate away. In a tight, controlled voice, she said, "How did you know who my parent was?"

Rhode smiled dryly. "It's clear that you carry yourself like the goddess of wisdom. As if you know everything. Some wise girl or something. That's an oxymoron, you know."

Piper gasped as everyone looked at me. I frowned. Why was she being so disrespectful towards Annabeth? "No disrespect, Rhode, but nobody…."

I got up to emphasize my point.

"…nobody insults my girlfriend like that. So check yourself and where you stand, or you can escort yourself out. For a person who just got saved, you treat the people that are keeping you safe pretty badly."

Annabeth exhaled. She still looked a little miffed, but seemed a little content that I had stood up for her.

"Excuse me, I have to go take a breather. Percy, can you come with me?"

Out the corner of my eye, I could see Rhode glaring at Annabeth as she walked away. Annabeth and I walked out of the pavilion, and she looked at me, crossing her arms. The air conditioning hit me right when I walked in, feeling like Olympus since I was already sweating from Rhode and Annabeth's standoff.

I scratched my head. "Are you okay? I'm sorry for what she said, she was really out of line with what she said; I'm sure that she didn't mean it. She's from a different time and probably doesn't know regular code of conduct for this time."

Annabeth looked out towards the door that we just came through. "Do I really carry myself like what she said?"

I tilted my head. "Annabeth, come here."

I thought she was going to attack me, but she stepped forward and I hugged her. "You're my girlfriend, and I wouldn't like you…"

I made a quick decision. "…and I wouldn't love you so much if you carried yourself like that."

Annabeth looked up at me with slightly red eyes. "What did you say?"

I tugged at my hair nervously. "I said…that I loved you."

Annabeth stared at me for the longest time, making me feel uncomfortable. I looked into her eyes, and her eyes were moving their usual billion miles per hour, analyzing me and seeing whether I meant it or not.

I scowled. "Well, if you don't have anything to say, I'll be going."

Her face changed to sympathetic and sad as I turned and walked away towards the exit. I heard her call my name as I walked out to the river to clear my thoughts, but I ignored them. The sunset was upon the camp, so it was a pretty clear view. I sat on top of the fishing dock and threw a rock into the river. I watched as it landed, causing ripples in the water.

I thought of the arrival of Rhode and I thought of her as the rock that landed in the ocean and causing several ripples; effects between the people she's involved with.

I thought about what I told Annabeth. Does she love me? She didn't tell me anything…which makes it just that more complicated. If she had said that she's not at the level yet, I would be fine with it and would respect her decision.

If she had said that she loved me, obviously that would've been great.

But she didn't answer.

I closed my eyes and smelled the usual sea breeze. "Dad, if you're out there, I just need some guidance. What do I do…this is a really strange time. I know I'm supposed to be the big hero and everything, but all of this seems so weird."

I exhaled, and I felt something in the back of my skull. A tingling.

Danger.

I whipped around and caught the seagull that was about to knock me upside the head. It opened its mouth and a note fell out, then it flew away. I opened the note, and it said, '_for the challenge to come.' _

I narrowed my eyes. What else did he send me? 'Brace youself'?

Wait…

Brace yourself…for the challenge to come?

Okay, not that much help. But definitely more interesting. What challenge is there for me to watch out for?

"PERCY!"

I turned around, hoping that Annabeth was running towards me. Instead, I saw Piper running towards me, with a knife in her hand.

"Piper! What's up?"

"Your new girl, Rhode, is sparring with the Ares cabin."

I immediately got up, my fingers closing around Riptide instinctively. "What's going on? How is she doing? Which one of the people are sparring with her?"

Piper looked at me. "That's the thing. The whole cabin is sparring with her at once."

I uncapped Riptide and ran with Piper to the sparring area.


	5. Chapter 5

**Percy POV**

I ran as fast as I could, outrunning Piper by a minute. We got to the sparring arena on the beach, where I saw Clarisse and her cabin struggling to attack Rhode. A huge crowd was gathered around, cheering and filming videos for YouTube, all for Rhode.

Or a figure that looked like Rhode.

She was dressed in brown and black Greek combat armor and was wielding Jason's sword. One gruesome from the cabin attacked her with a regular sword.

Mistake.

She looked at him with amusement in her ocean blue eyes, as if deciding whether or not to kill him or to embarrass him.

She chose the latter.

She parried his strike easily, and twisted her wrist so the sword fell to the ground. She backflipped and kicked him in the chest, sending him to the ground also. She threw the sword on a frozen rope (like I threw Riptide at the squid) at Clarisse, who wisely dodged it. However, it impaled one of the people in the shoulder, sending them to the ground and taking their consciousness. She flipped her long black hair and got into a battle stance.

Rhode smiled dryly, but she was weaponless now. I turned my head and realized Chiron standing by, pale in the face as he watched her destroy our best fighters in the camp. I could've sworn that he was sweating.

She had two more people; Clarisse and her half-brother, Jack.

Jack attacked with his hammer, but Rhode flipped over him, kicking him so hard in his ankle that she almost kicked the joint out of the body part.

She then avoided Clarisse's swipe, and full out punched her in the face, sending her down to the ground.

Clarisse stayed down for the count, and I snuck a look to the side.

My heart caught in my throat.

Jason was leaning against a tree, his knee twisted so badly the wrong way that it hurt to look at him. He was attempting to slow his breathing so he could lower his blood pressure. Leo was collapsed on the ground, steam coming from every part of his body as if he got extinguished. He had a sword wound in the thigh.

Frank was knocked out, with Hazel struggling to revive him. I saw Thalia notice Jason, and run up to examine his knee. Nico was being taught how to use crutches.

Piper looked on, her eyes flashing with anger. "Piper, what happened?"

She took a breath, as if to control her anger. "She got bored. She challenged us to spar, and completely destroyed Leo within 10 seconds. She took out Frank easily, she stabbed Nico in the knee. Jason fought her well until she disarmed him with no weapon. She took his sword, and kicked him in the shin so hard that it turned the wrong way, breaking his knee.

I looked at Rhode, who was cracking her neck as if she wasn't tired at all. She just walked over and yanked Jason's bloody sword out of the guy's shoulder. "What is she, some Amazon who targets men for fun?"

"I don't know, Percy, but you thawed her out the ice."

I was about to respond when a familiar voice stepped in the arena. "I will challenge you."

I saw Annabeth step into the arena with her battle clothes on, wielding her bronze knife. She looked beautiful as ever. She made eye contact with me as I pushed my way to the front. Rhode spotted me and smiled sweetly. She then turned to Annabeth and got Jason's sword ready.

Rhode charged as Annabeth stayed stationary, watching her every move. How she ran, what it looked like her goal was, where her body tensed up, everything.

Rhode looked for an overhead strike, but Annabeth parried it, rolling underneath Rhode and kicking her in the back of the knee. Rhode's balance buckled, enough for Annabeth to leap and kick her in the back.

Rhode went to the ground. The crowd shuffled, because they had bets on this game. The people betting for Rhode were scared because there wasn't a scratch on Annabeth, but the people betting for Annabeth were scared because Rhode was getting angry.

Rhode got up and charged again. This time, she slid baseball-style and took out Annabeth's ankles. My girlfriend fell to the ground, rolled, and popped back up. Rhode made eye contact with me, and set her jaw in a determined fashion. I swore that I could see a glow coming around Rhode as she advanced, attacking Annabeth harshly. Each strike was harder and faster than the last, coming for Annabeth's weak spots and everywhere. Annabeth was barely parrying them, but she wasn't going to last for long. Sooner or later, my girlfriend's head is going to be rolling around here if I didn't do something.

Rhode kicked Annabeth in the knee, then kept slashing. I stepped past Piper and into the arena with Riptide out, earning a rustle of reverent muttering.

"Is that Percy?"

"Percy Jackson? The counselor?"

"PERCY!"

"He's saving his girl. Chill out."

I was about to yell Rhode's name when clouds flew in and a lightning bolt flashed, hitting Rhode square in the back and sending her to the ground.

"You've been nothing but trouble when you show up because you don't know when enough is enough."

Rhode got up as if she was fine, and looked at where the voice came from. Annabeth was struggling to get up, with a gash on her head. I jogged towards her and slung her over my shoulder. "You okay, Wise Girl?"

She smiled weakly. "I'm sorry, Seaweed Brain. I should've told you earlier, but-"

"Shhhh, not now. We'll talk later." She nodded weakly and closed her eyes, passing out.

There, standing there with her sword smoking and Aegis in her weaker hand, was Thalia. I winced. I've been on the receiving end of her lightning blasts before. Not fun.

Her Hunter aura was making her seem much more deadly. She dropped Aegis, and it sunk to the ground as if it had a huge weight on it. She held out her sword. "Come on, then. Let's see what you have against the Hunter of Artemis."

I looked at Thalia; she was mad. Mad enough to accidentally hurt Rhode or kill her.

"Thalia, calm down."

She paid me no mind as she charged Rhode. "THALIA!" I yelled.

Rhode seemed to sense the danger, and charged also. They attacked each other, swords clanging, fists throwing, feet flying, aerobics being executed (by Thalia's gifts from Artemis and Rhode's natural agility). Soon enough, they were both weaponless, wrestling with each other. The crowd was getting more and more restless as I got Riptide again, getting ready to step in.

Suddenly, Rhode kicked Thalia so hard that she flew towards the beach. Everyone watched in awe as Rhode kicked my cousin at least 20 feet. Thalia got up, and was charging herself to get ready to blast Rhode.

Rhode smiled. "Tell me, daughter of Zeus. What happens when water meets lightning?"

I didn't know if they had science lessons back when she was alive, and to be honest, I was curious of the answer ever since Thalia had blasted me back when I was like 14 and I rose the swirling creek against her.

Thalia gritted her teeth as she managed to get to one knee. "Don't know, couldn't possibly care. I was already faced with this when Seaweed Brain over here…tried to do it to me."

Rhode held out one hand calmly, and a huge wave rose up from the ocean. The crowd gasped when they realized what Rhode just did. They gasped again when they realized that Rhode timed it perfectly.

"NO!" I yelled.

But when Thalia was charging her body with lightning to strike at Rhode, Rhode made the swirling wave crash down on Thalia as soon as she was blasting her. Thalia's lightning met the water, and a small yellow and orange implosion erupted from the half second when Thalia was underwater.

The water cleared, and Thalia was on the ground, knocked out completely, and not breathing. Steam was coming off her body.

I ran towards her with Piper and Hazel at my heels. Chiron clopped over. "Did you check her vitals?"

Piper looked at Chiron. "She's barely alert. If we leave her alone, she might die under lack of care."

"Get her to the infirmary, along with the rest of her…sparring mates."

I had a feeling he was going to say _victims, _but he caught himself. I turned around, but everyone was looking at the thing that was swirling above Rhode's head at the point. Rain started to pour down on our usual good weather camp, but I didn't care. My hair matted down as I watched her.

A glowing green trident was spinning around her head.

Chiron sighed and rubbed his temples as he knelt. Everyone else knelt except for me as I watched her watch me. She smiled at me bashfully.

Chiron led the chant. "All hail Rhode, daughter of Poseidon."

Everyone looked at me sympathetically, as if they knew what I was going through right now. The girl who destroyed our best fighters and might be on my level, or better, is the daughter of Poseidon. She's an impeccable combatant, and she possesses hydrokinesis and cryokinesis. The control of water and control of ice. She exhibited enhanced strength and protection against damage near water. Now, she was making it rain on the one place where it was impossible to rain.

I came to the realization as I watched my girlfriend, Thalia, Jason, Nico, Frank, the Ares cabin, and Leo get taken to the infirmary.

I have a sister.


	6. Chapter 6

**Percy POV**

I was in the infirmary until 1:30 in the morning. It's not like I needed to sleep for anything; it had been months since the last war against Gaea, and most monsters are not going to attack the same person who is in recent shape and is ready to kill them all.

I was right next to Annabeth's bed, looking at her as her breathing was slow and steady. I watched the monitor, and watched her heart rate fluctuate at a good, healthy pace.

She was okay.

I always wondered what I would do if I ever lost Annabeth. The girl that I've known for more than 5 years now, who has been with me through life and death situations, who has seen the real me, who has gotten into arguments with me, who has thought that I was dead and was heartbroken.

I watched as she shifted in her bed. I turned my chair so I was facing Thalia. She was in worse shape than Annabeth, but her breathing was steadying after I had to use my abilities with water to get fluids through her body and to activate her bodily systems again.

She had grown out her hair to make her look older. She figured out how to alter her appearance so she could appear to be however old she wanted to. She used to look a day from 16. Now, she looked 17, like Annabeth and I. For example, if she was talking to a lost twelve-year old girl, she could appear as 12 years old to calm the girl down. Or to provide a sort of empathetic feeling.

I closed my eyes and sighed. Everyone else who had been injured had taken their share of ambrosia and was fine within a couple of hours. Most people were out of here before 9:30.

Except these two.

My two best friends in the entire world. I always wondered if there was life in outer space. If there is, Thalia and Annabeth would be my best friends in the entire universe.

"Seaweed…Brain?"

I whipped my head around to see if I was imagining things, but Annabeth had her eyes opened slightly. She, with effort, turned her head so she was facing me; the gash that was on her head was starting to look much better. I felt better inside a little bit.

"Annabeth! Go to sleep, get some rest."

She tried to sit up, but it looked like some invisible force of pain held her down as she collapsed back on the bed. She whimpered, and I held her hand. "You okay?"

"Percy…how long…have…you…been…."

I understood what she was saying. Since it seemed like every attempt at saying a word was painful, I answered the question before she finished it.

"Since you passed out."

Annabeth made an attempt to roll her eyes. "It's been like 8 hours since that happened."

"8 and a half."

She stuck her tongue out at me. I grinned at her. "Not every day that you can correct the wisest girl on the planet."

I bent down and kissed her cheek. "Feel better, will you?"

She smiled. "You have the cute face when you're worried again. I'll be fine. Pretty dumb of me, to attack a girl that proved herself to be one of the most powerful swordswoman on the planet."

I blinked. "On the planet?"

Annabeth ignored my question. "I was dumb. My emotions clouded my judgment. I could see that she liked you-"

"Woah-"

"-and I wanted to protect the person that I loved-"

"WOAH-"

"-before he got…taken…away from me…"

I fell silent as I watched her. "Annabeth, you will never lose me. I'll be right at your side, no matter what happens. We've been doing this all our lives."

She laughed a little. "Let's not make it a habit, shall we?"

I grinned and kissed her hand. She smiled again, but her eyes seemed to be getting heavy. "I love you, Seaweed Brain."

A warm feeling rushed through my body at those words. My heart skipped a couple beats and started beating a little faster. I sighed. "I love you too. But it took you that long to say it, plus a life threatening encounter?"

She struggled to stay awake. "That's a demigod's life. And you had to say it first. I couldn't believe that you had said it to me, so I was just staring and saying the words back in my mind. I told you that I will never make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. And you still haven't gotten used to it."

I grinned as she grabbed my shirt and pulled me in for a quick peck. I sat back down and said "I love you, Annabeth Chase. And hopefully, I will never get used to it."

She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

I checked Thalia's vitals, which were as steady as they could be, then went outside.

The warm humid air hit me as soon as I walked outside; it was still drizzling. I figured it still had something to do with Rhode coming in, her demigod aura probably messed up the whole system of weather at the camp.

I wasn't tired at all when I was worrying about Annabeth, but now, I was feeling pretty tired and exhausted.

But I still had some things on my mind.

Instead of climbing up the mountain trail, I looked around to see if anyone was looking. The night harpies were focused on some water spirits that were arguing with them, so I used the ocean water to create steps up to the entrance of the cave. I got there and saw that the diamonds and sparkling flowers made the cave somehow lighter than during the daytime. I sat on the edge of the cave and looked out towards the view; I was probably going to fall asleep here tonight.

I had a sister.

It was as if Poseidon did this on purpose. I had a taste of what the other cabins feel like when they meet their siblings for the first time in their life. It felt strange and bad at the same time. The fact that this was a daily reminder that my godly parent screwed other females in his life the same way that he did my mom. And abandoned them. Like me. I picked up a rock and flung it into the ocean. "IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE!" I yelled.

I looked at the harpies, but they didn't seem to hear.

The rain fell in sheets onto the now dark blue/black water, but it was kind of relaxing. I slowed my breathing. I looked up to the stars and found several constellations forming in the stars; I saw Zoe running across the stars and that immediately cheered me up.

Go get 'em, Zoe Nightshade.

I sighed. Annabeth loved me back.

I grinned like a crazy man just thinking about that fact. Is this what being in love is?

"Beautiful night, isn't it?"

Without hesitation, my hand flashed to my pocket and within half a second, I had my adversary pinned to the floor with Riptide at his throat.

Not his…her.

Rhode.

I blinked and her face came into plain view. I stood up and let her up as she had a strange hungry expression on her face. She had changed her clothes to her light blue dress, but she was barefoot. "Rhode, what are you doing here? How did you know about this place?"

She slid towards the opening and looked out towards the sea. "When I was frozen, I could see everything for miles. People swimming by the monster squid, and not doing anything about it. People seeing me and thinking that I'm some cool exhibit. Some design. And not a real person. I saw you dive in and I realized that you were probably a son of a sea god. The only person to see me and not leave me like the others."

I nodded grimly as I looked at the drawings on the wall of the legendary Greek heroes. "Son of Poseidon. That's what they call me."

Rhode sensed the bitterness in my voice and turned to look at me; I had to admit, I was still mad about the fact that she damn there massacred my entire circle of friends in two days.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…it's just where I come from, thousands of years back, fighting and battle spirit was everything in society."

I kept my eyes on the drawings as I sat down on a little rock stump I created a year ago.

She continued in her melodic voice. "I was born on an island…to a mystery woman. Literally, no one that I knew had any kind of idea who my mother was. But my powers over water manifested early."

She curled her fingers and the water that ran through the cave followed her movements, curling out of the stream and forming shapes.

"A family of sea nymphs came by and took me in. Took care of me. They figured that my parentage was from a major sea god because of my powers. Even accused each other of getting pregnant and giving birth to me." She smiled at her little joke. I just looked at her. She had a blue flower in her hair, which I somehow knew was a rose, despite the coloring. I could identify with blue coloring in things not meant to be blue.

"I took up weaponry early, and became an expert combatant with almost every weapon known to man, and then some. I got powerful; and the sea nymphs taught me everything about water and how to use it to my advantage, because they were water spirits."

"I was protector of the island. Until, in one Titan uprising, Helios rose from the depths and came onto the island. He killed all the nymphs that raised me up into a young woman, and he attacked and raped me. From one ejaculation, he impregnated me with eight children. From that point on, I realized that I needed to learn how to use the powers they taught me for battle."

I looked up at her, and a silvery tear was falling down her cheek from recounting the story. I suddenly felt bad; the people of ancient Greece had terrible pasts. My story about my struggles with Smelly Gabe and Nancy Bobofit would probably not compare to her getting abandoned by her parents, her adopted parents being slaughtered in front of her, and being raped and forced to give birth to eight children.

"I do not say their names; they are too painful for me to recount. I was 16, Perseus. 16. Where was my father then?"

I was going to say something smart like, "I'm sorry," but I decided against it. I watched her as she continued. "I loved each and every one of my sons. They grew at inhuman speeds because of their father. I rose them the best that I could. But alas, they ended up killing each other. Violently. But not before they spread out amongst the island and claimed their own sections."

I sighed. "If it makes you feel any better, my friends and I defeated the Titan Hyperion."

Rhode smiled sadly. "That was Helios' father. But with your skills and powers, I don't doubt it. And yes, it does make me feel a better. But after that, the god Proteus came to the island. Passed by all the defenses that I had set up. He came, shape-shifted into a nymph, and tricked me. Then he attacked me, wanting to rape me again, but I had trained all those years. But I still kept my appearance; I was immortal on the island. I held my own against him, and our battle took us to the ocean. Deep into the ocean. We fought as we took the current to gods-knows-where and we fought and fought. We must've fought for two years before we came to this sea."

I had an epiphany. One of our states was named after the girl in front of me. I thought that was interesting, and looked out at the water. The same water that Annabeth and I jumped in for fun was the battleground of a sex-hungry sea deity on the hunt of a rape victim who happens to be my sister. Wonderful. No way I'm getting to sleep tonight.

"I was winning, and was ready to deliver the final blow and head back home, but he used the last of his energy to freeze me. And there I stayed for thousands of years. Until the power of another child of Poseidon freed me."

She turned towards me. "And I owe you my life."

I was silent. What could I say?

After what seemed like forever, I looked up at her. "I promise you, I will find you a safe place. This is the safest place here for people like us."

She looked down at the water and bent it again to her will. I watched it for a second because I've never seen anybody outside of me control water like that. But I flicked my hand and dispersed the water she was controlling. She looked up as if she wasn't used to her powers being canceled out. "Hey, listen to me. You will be safe here. I've defeated Titans and Primordial deities before. I will keep you safe."

She looked at me and moved forward towards me. "Perseus," she whispered. She grabbed my ears and kissed me, long, slow, and deep.

Now when I say that her kiss was addicting, it's not a figure of speech. When she kissed me, I literally felt dizzy, as if I wasn't in my right mind. She kissed me again, pushing me into the water as she lay on top of me. The river carried us to the reservoir of water that was collected, and we went underwater. And kept kissing. We kissed underwater.

She was like a child of Aphrodite. Her kisses were like charm-speaking me. Not me, my body. As much as my mind wanted to say no, her kisses were controlling my body.

She pulled off my shirt and kept kissing everywhere. We were still underwater. My mind flashed to Annabeth kissing me in the Labyrinth.

Rhode's hands wandered to my areas. She got to my main area and went inside my pants…

_When she kissed me, I had the feeling my brain was melting right through my body. _

Visions of Annabeth flashed through my mind. I flexed my body. I was gaining control.

_And it was pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time. _

I regained full control of my body, threw Rhode off, and shot up to the surface of the cave. I grabbed my shirt and stormed out. A column of water flew out of the cave river and turned into Rhode herself. She advanced towards me again.

I uncapped Riptide, and she froze in her tracks. She looked genuinely hurt. "You…do not find me beautiful…?" She said it as if it was unthinkable.

"I never said that! I. Have. A. Girlfriend. What we are doing, is wrong. It's cheating. I love Annabeth. That's my girlfriend. I want to marry her. Become her consort someday. And we are from the same father!"

She blinked as if she got slapped. "Your point?"

"That's disgusting! We're family!"

She blinked. "But…you saved me from the lake."

I face palmed myself. "That doesn't mean you go around trying to seduce people!"

She frowned. "I seduced multiple people? Perseus, I want to have your children."

I growled and stormed past her, diving into the lake. I swam to shore, and stormed right past the harpies. They knew I was pissed and with Riptide out, they knew better than to mess with me.

I slammed the door to the Poseidon cabin and crashed on my bed, falling asleep instantly.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Percy POV **_

_Suddenly I was in the throne room of the gods, with Poseidon pacing around the lowered center. The problem was, it was only Poseidon, Zeus, and Athena in the throne room. _

_Zeus sighed. "This is your fault, brother. If you hadn't allowed Perseus to free her, she wouldn't pose so much of a threat than she already has." _

_Poseidon paced back and forth, rubbing his temples. "You don't understand…she has incredible power. Power that surpasses any of my sons throughout history." _

_Athena huffed. "With the exception of Perseus." _

_Thunder rumbled as Poseidon looked up at her angrily. He walked towards Athena with his trident in hand. "DO NOT PUT YOUR JEALOUSY ON ME, ATHENA! I am in enough grief as it is. I know that she defeated your daughter, but bitterness does not suit you." _

_If Athena was scared at all, she didn't show any sign of it. She maintained a blank face as she looked at her father. "My plan is to kill her. You know her parentage. Who her mother is. We can't allow her to live. Whatsoever. It's because of her that the new threat is rising." _

_Poseidon whipped his head angrily towards Zeus, even though Athena was the one to say it. "You can't be serious, brother."_

_Lightning flashed in Zeus' eyes. "She almost killed Thalia. As my daughter and the lieutenant of Artemis' Hunters, that is a formidable feat. That plus the being who is after her…she needs to go." _

_Waves rumbled in my father's eyes as he looked up at Zeus. "This isn't a matter of pride, brother. This is my daughter. I can only imagine what Percy must be going through." _

"_Perseus," Athena smirked. "Perseus is another reason why he's rising and wants revenge. He and his friends posing a nuisance for Hyperion." _

_What could they be talking about? _

_I could practically feel anger and grief emanating from my father; but what was wrong? Why was he so uneasy with her return…shouldn't he be happy? It's his daughter, after all. _

_Athena looked at my father mercilessly. "She's a child out of time. She wasn't raised by humans like the other demigods. She isn't even one of them. She is something else entirely." _

_What did they mean? What is she? _

_Poseidon looked at his brother. "For eons, I have allowed you to call the shots. To be the big shot. Make dumb decisions and leaving me and Hades to clean up after you!" _

_Zeus stood up as lightning flashed. "You're calling me impertinent as a leader?" _

_Poseidon stood up to him. "That's exactly what I'm saying. You're not the most powerful here, Zeus. Not anymore, at least. What about my child? He defeated Ares at 12 years old. He was barely a teenager!" _

_Zeus hesitated. "He had a couple of pimples…" _

_Poseidon continued. "He put Gaea to sleep and defeated your father Kronos within a matter of a year. You barely subdued your father within centuries. Think about it, brother." _

_Athena narrowed her eyes and glared at Poseidon as if it was his fault that I saved the world more times than a 17 year old should ever have to save it. _

_Zeus blinked. I blinked in my dream self. I didn't do all that by myself…I had a LOT of help. But for some reason, people keep giving me the fame and credit for the quest. I'm just one guy with ADHD. _

_Zeus blinked again. "But…my domain rules over the air and the earth. Nothing is bigger than it." _

_Poseidon gritted his teeth and spoke in a tight voice. "Then why are you so nervous about the being who is rising now? My and Percy's domain happens to be the sea. It encompasses your 'earth', brother. One thought and your 'earth' becomes underwater, killing everyone on the land." _

_Athena frowned. "Except for your children, of course." _

_Zeus stared his brother down, then transported to the lower level where my father was. "She will die, Poseidon. There is nothing you can do. She poses too big of a threat. Especially since she fits into the prophecy." _

_Poseidon stood eye to eye with him. "You kill her. You disobey my wishes. I will make sure that every one of your children never sets foot on this earth again. Because it will be flooded. That will happen with all my other children. Leave my responsibility to me!" _

_Zeus looked like he was controlling his anger. "Fine. When this girl turns out to be more trouble than you can handle, we will not aid you, Poseidon. Go. As Kronos used to say, 'The sins of the child shall be visited upon by the father.'" _

_Poseidon spat. "As if Kronos is always a good model citizen to quote. I will go. Tell Apollo to let his Oracle know. Perseus must know." _

_The room grew darker. Or maybe it was just me. _

"_Poseidon. Helios is rising. There is nothing that you can do to stop it." _

_My world started to spin. Helios? Is rising? That's the threat they're talking about…the person who is after Rhode now. But why? After all these years? What was so special about her? _

_Poseidon looked at Zeus and Athena and exchanged grim looks with all them. "You don't think I'm aware of that?"_

_Athena scowled. "Apparently not, since the usually cool, laid back and reasonable Poseidon is letting his emotions cloud his judgment. Rhode is bringing Helios back to this plane of existence. He is not going to be happy with the way things are right now, and he will try to destroy the Earth. All he has to do is move the Sun a fraction of a mile closer to the earth, and it will be destroyed in fire. And your precious son will not be able to survive an encounter with Helios." _

_Poseidon looked darkly at Athena. "He will need a host. It will take a while. By the time he is ready to rise, we will have found a solution of what to do with Rhode." _

_Zeus shook his head as Athena sighed. "This meeting is adjourned. Poseidon, go inform your son. And assign a quest." _

_Poseidon looked at his brother. "A quest to what?"_

_Zeus looked down towards his moving map of the earth. "A quest to stop Helios from rising."_

_Poseidon clenched his jaw and bowed exaggeratedly. "Yes, lord Zeus." _

_Zeus and Athena watched him transform into water and flow out of the throne room. _

_Athena muttered to nobody in particular, "I hope my daughter and his son are ready to take on this challenge. Because it will be unlike anything they have ever encountered." _

_Zeus shifted uncomfortable. "Look to the Fates, daughter. We will see what's in store." _


	8. Chapter 8

**Percy POV **

I woke up in a cold sweat.

I rubbed my eyes as sunlight poured through my cabin; usually a sign of peace and warmth, but now the sunlight reminded me of something the exact opposite. Chaos and coldness.

Of course, my brain seized on the possibility that it could've just been a dream, but I threw that option out and scolded myself for being so naive to think in that way. Every one of my dreams has been clairvoyant, so I need to be on the lookout for this new prophecy.

I rolled out of bed and grunted. Annabeth always says that I behave like an animal in the morning until I have some kind of water hit my body.

That's a good idea.

I held my hand out. The water in the sink burst out and enveloped me, dousing me from head to toe and washing all the dirt, drool, and grime from sleep off my body. I dried myself instantly and threw an orange camp T-shirt on. I pulled on some black athletic shorts with a big orange stripe on them and my black Nike socks. I slipped on my gray and black athletic sneakers and was almost out the door when I heard-

"Good morning."

I jumped and whipped around, looking to see who that was. Rhode was sitting up on the bed next to me, smiling bashfully. "I'm sorry. Chiron told me to move my things into this cabin until he can tell what to do next with me or whatever."

I narrowed my eyes. After the dream that I had last night, I couldn't believe what she was saying. If everything was accurate, she was bringing Helios to this plain of existence and best case scenario, he might only want to take over Olympus and recreate the world in his image.

Or, worst case scenario, he could arrive and burn everything up in his presence as the embodiment and Titan of the Sun.

I wonder how Apollo is going to treat this news. The god of the Sun is going to have competition for that title to see who's really the hottest.

I sighed. Rhode had on dark blue silk pajamas that matched her eyes. It was scary, how fitting her color schemes were. She smiled dryly. "Long night?"

I frowned, as I recounted the dream to myself. "You could say that."

I remembered what I needed to do and I sprinted out the door. "COME ON!"

"Now?"

"NOW!"

Rhode hesitated, then took off after me, shifting her clothes into a running outfit that matched her eyes (come on, is this a joke?).

We got to the Big House and I walk in on Annabeth, Rachel, and Chiron talking. They stop immediately when the door opened, and their eyes softened with relief when they saw me.

Their eyes hardened when they saw Rhode.

Annabeth set her jaw when she saw Rhode. "What is she doing here?"

I sat down. Despite me being all about business and the prophecy and the world-ending-in-fire prophecy, I was glad to see Rachel.

She had grown to about 5'7, and she straightened her hair with some hair care product to make it look a darker and more mature shade of red and make it look all smooth and straight. Hey, I don't know hair. Her usual bright and intelligent green eyes were darkened with sobriety.

I answered Annabeth. "She is here because we have a problem. A big problem."

Rachel looked at Rhode. "We're aware of it. Helios is rising, and there has to be a quest to stop his rising and to make sure that we stop any other…Titans from coming through."

I smirked. "Way to sum up the end of the world in one quick sentence."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "That's my job."

I didn't have anything else to say to that. "What did the prophecy say?"

Rachel shook her head frustratedly. Annabeth answered for her, "She can't recall the actual prophecy even though she said it when she was back in her cabin. She can summarize it, though."

Chiron cleared his throat; you know you're a half blood who's growing up when you forget that Chiron is in the room. "Child, two children of each of the Big Three have to go and stop Helios. He will have a host. And knowing Helios and his methods, he will make sure that the host is somebody that we know to strike at our hearts. He is still bitter about his son Phaeton, you know."

I scratched my head. "Shouldn't we be the bitter ones since he took Helios' chariot for a joyride and set the earth on fire?"

Chiron shrugged. I've never seen Chiron shrug in my life. _Now _I know that the world's going to end. "I assume that we know which ones are going. We need the most powerful half-bloods of the Big Three that are here at the camp."

I looked at Annabeth. That would mean that she wouldn't be going.

I suddenly felt nervous. Annabeth must've sensed it through the empathy link, because she said, "Don't worry, Chiron. I have my Bluetooth earpieces all ready. They won't get rid of me that easily."

"Really? Who says that we want your earpieces?"

"The stress lines that were relieved on your head when I said it."

Annabeth always has a way to bring peace to every situation with her brain. I grinned as Chiron looked centuries older as he watched us. "I do apologize, children, for bringing you into a situation with such grave danger."

Rachel smiled confidently. "Come on, teacher, lighten up. It's the summer. This is our summer job. I want a raise on the paycheck though."

I grinned, and looked at Rhode, whose neck was tensing and contracting. Her eyes were wide and she was hyperventilating.

Annabeth and I sprung into action. I scooped her up and laid on the couch while Annabeth checked her pulse. My girlfriend straightened up and reported, "She went into physical shock. She'll be okay in a couple of minutes."

Rhode was turning pale. "Hel….Helios….he's…he's back?"

I looked at her sympathetically. The Titan who had tormented her all those years ago was coming back for her; how else was she supposed to feel?

Rachel spoke up. "You'll be fine. Look, you're going on a quest with Percy. You'll be fine."

Rhode's breathing returned to normal. Annabeth raised an eyebrow as she calmed down. Chiron cleared his throat. "Well then, the two children of Zeus, Jason and Thalia Grace."

I just realized what he saying. "What? Thalia's in the infirmary?!"

Annabeth looked at me. "She's a Hunter now, Percy. She heals much faster than us."

She laced her fingers through mine, giving me extra strength. "So who else is there?"

Chiron looked at me. "There will be Nico and Hazel, since those are the only known children of Hades here. And there will be Percy and Rhode."

Rhode looked at me; her color had returned to normal. I cleared my throat as I looked back at Chiron. "So where do we go?"

Chiron looked at a scroll as he unrolled it. "The three hottest states in the country. You will travel to those states and obtain the one weapon capable of destroying Titans once and for all."

Annabeth whistled. "The Spear of Triam. The weapon used to knock Kronos back to Tartarus ages ago."

A cold feeling went through my body at the mention of the Titan. "So…Hawaii, Florida and Texas, then? The three hottest states?"

Chiron nodded. Each one of the items needed, you will find there. "Poseidon's trident-"

He looked at me and continued. "Zeus' thunderbolt, and Hades' pitchforks. Combine those items, and you will find the weapon needed. Go."

We all turned to go except for Rachel, but Chiron stopped us. "Don't think that Helios will allow you to obtain these items. They will be well-guarded."

I frowned. "Aren't those items belonging to the Big Three? Why would they be well-guarded by Helios?"

"He can't protect them because they're in possession of the gods. But he'll make every entrance to Olympus well-guarded and set with traps. And he'll make every entrance to the Underworld protected by his followers."

I looked at Chiron. "What about the sea?"

Chiron looked at me with meaning in his eyes. "That'll be free. Unguarded."

I grinned. "Well, let's go wake everybody up then."


	9. Chapter 9

**Percy POV**

"So you're telling me the Titan of the Sun is rising for this girl over here and if he makes it to this plane of existence, the earth is in trouble of ending in fire?" Thalia asked all of us for confirmation of what we just said.

"And we have to travel to the hottest parts of the country-" Jason continued.

"-and gather the gods' most valuable weapons-" Hazel confirmed.

"-and combine them to form the Spear of Triam, the only weapon capable of putting him back into the earth," finished Nico Di Angelo.

We were in the cabin built to Hades, and it was Jason, Thalia, Rhode, Nico, Hazel, and I. The cabin was cold and dark, which seemed kind of cozy because there was no sunlight, ironically.

I nodded. "Basically we have to find a super-powerful stick that can knock the hell out of Helios."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and smirked. "Very, very, very, crudely put, but yes. It's going to be very dangerous…guys, this is a Titan. This is one of the brothers of Kronos. He's just as dangerous, if not more. Because he has a goal. A point. Kronos wanted to take over the world, Helios wants Rhode. But we're not going to let him have her. Because she is one of our campers now. We're going to protect her with her lives. If you do not want to come onto this adventure, that's fine. You all have had enough life-threatening adventures for multiple lifetimes."

Jason flipped his coin casually and it transformed into a spear as it landed in his hand. "Can we go now?"

I grinned as Annabeth looked at him gratefully. "We have Jason, Percy, and Rhode going on the quest. Anyone else?"

Thalia unsheathed her sword. "Are you kidding? The chance to knock out another Titan? I'm in all the way. I thought you knew me better, Annabeth."

Thalia grinned as she looked at me; I will never admit this, but she's really blossomed into a fierce, strong young woman. Her hair was long and dark, and she's matured since the last time I've fought with her.

Annabeth looked at the two children of Hades. "And you two? We can find somebody else…"

Nico snorted. "Yeah, no."

Hazel punched him. "Both of us are in. When do we begin?"

I smiled. "Your stuff is already packed and loaded onto the _Princess Andromeda_."

The children of Hephaestus had brought in the ruins of the ship when Beckendorf and I destroyed it. They had rebuilt it from the bottom up; I was determined to make this boat be used for good and not anything like what Luke used it for. It was smaller now, more built for speed and efficiency rather than endurance and strength.

I climbed onto the boat and immediatley smelled the familiar ocean sea breeze. I inhaled and grinned; I was going to be at sea. My element. I looked around the boat and suddenly felt an aching feeling in my chest. This was going to be the first time that I had ever gone on a quest without Annabeth. Except for when I went to save her from Atlas, but she was there with us in person at some point in the adventure. I've always had her wisdom or her confidence at one point or another.

An hour later, everyone was on the boat and was unpacking their belongings into their rooms as Annabeth rushed around frantically, installing the Bluetooth earpieces in our ears. "Be sure to keep these in your ears so you can hear me. Everything I say will be broadcasted to everyone in the group. Your earpieces include cameras, so I will be able to have eyes everywhere. Any threat coming from either direction, I will warn you. Have each other's backs. Be careful. The audio is on the whole time, so if you need me, just talk to me."

She installed Rhode's, then walked over to me. "That includes you, Seaweed Brain," She whispered. She kissed me lightly, as she turned on the earpiece. "Be safe, will you? You're the leader of this train."

I grinned at her. "Me? I've bested a thousand monsters with my bare hands, pretty one!"

She cocked her head in confusion. "What?"

"Inside joke. Anyway, don't I get a kiss for luck? I mean, it's kind of tradition, isn't it?"

She smirked. "Come back alive, Percy. Then we'll see."

I was kind of disappointed, but she pulled my head down and kissed me. She used our empathy link and said in my mind, '_Be safe.' _

She used the ladder and climbed off the boat, waving with the rest of the campers as the children of Hermes unhooked the lines that held it to the shore.

The boat completely released itself from the shore and started to sail. I instantly felt at ease, knowing our coordinates and everything, but I'm not going to bore you with the details.

I turned to the seven others; Rhode closed her eyes and smiled as she breathed in the ocean breeze. "Back in my day, boats were rare. To be on a trip on a boat was a treat; usually for celebration purposes or if one was trying to run away from somewhere. Like Odysseus and Calypso. He ran away from her because she was raping him and bore him 7 kids, fully expecting him to stay on the island with her forever and leave his wife."

Nico coughed as Thalia glared at Rhode. "Thank you for that wonderful bit of information. That is very useful for our quest."

I suddenly felt guilty, but I pushed it out of my mind. Calypso was free now; she was out in the world after she had helped us in the war with Gaea in her own way. I had no regrets there; she was a genuinely compassionate soul that I helped.

Rhode looked back at Thalia, not threatened. "I suggest you check your tone, before I seriously hurt you this time."

The air crackled with ozone; Thalia was angry now. "You can fight me again, and let's have a rematch! This time, I won't go easy on you!"

Jason put a hand on both of them. He had grown to a figure of 6'2 and 195 pounds. Optimal size for a warrior. He hadn't lost his rugged look from a few years ago and he put on about twice the muscle that he used to have. He looked like a natural warrior even though his knee was wrapped with strong white gauze. He seemed totally healthy though, and I silently thanked the gods for ambrosia. "Both of you, calm down. We can get along together fine if we put aside our differences for this one quest."

Thalia stared Rhode down until Rhode smiled at her. There was no warmth, though, more like a smile that said, _"I'm going to let you live for now. Try to disrespect me again." _

I cleared my throat. "Okay. We're doing a straight shot from New York to the state of Conneticut. From there, the river is going to get wider, and lead to the Atlantic Ocean. Then, we will turn the boat and sail south towards Florida. Annabeth will let us know which specific city and where we will be."

We all heard Annabeth's voice in our ears. "Are all of you good? It's a beautiful view, isn't it?"

We all looked out towards the horizon; it was beautiful. The sun was beaming down on us, making the water look glittery and divine. I saw my spot in the cave, and apparently Rhode did too, because she looked at me and smiled brilliantly.

Hazel gasped in surprise and moved to the front of the boat, looking out to the horizon. Everyone followed them, including Rhode as they looked out in amazement. I grinned; sometimes, Poseidon can truly be amazing.

A couple hours later, everyone was asleep and I was the only person sitting on the bow of the ship, willing it to go as fast as safely possible for the people on the boat.

Annabeth said in my ear, "How are you doing? It's been four hours in, and nobody has died. Not a single monster. Congratulations."

I sneered playfully, then realized that she couldn't see me. She said again, "Don't you dare sneer at me. I know you, Mr. Jackson. I'm private-voicing you, so it's just us that can hear this."

I grinned. "I know you too, Mrs. Jackson."

A loud ear burst in my ear, causing me to wince and reflexively bring my hand to my ear. I heard Annabeth's voice again. "Very funny, Seaweed Brain. You like that technology I installed? It was just for you."

I rubbed my ear. "Wonderful."

She sighed. "So, the fireworks are coming up again. Our first one as counselors."

I looked out towards the water. The fireworks _were _coming up tonight; a camp tradition every year. But this time, it's going to be even bigger since we just saved the world and are hopefully going to save the world again.

"Right. And would you give me the honor of being my date to the fireworks."

There was a half second of silence. "Hmm, nah, I don't think so because I'm actually busy."

I felt like I got slappedi n the face. "Oh…okay then. That's fine, I was just going to…sleep in, I guess. You know that sleep is necessary for one's well being."

Annabeth laughed in my ear. "I'm joking, Percy. Of course I would go with you! Why wouldn't I want to go with my amazing boyfriend?"

I rolled my eyes. "You're funny."

"I know. Hey, someone's coming up to talk to you, so I'll talk to you later."

"Won't you hear everything?"

"Yes. But I don't want to interrupt."

"Fine. Bye."

"Hey! I don't get a kiss? Where's my proper goodbye."

I sighed, and smiled after trying to hold it in. "I love you, Annabeth Chase. Muuahhhh."

The last thing was sort of a virtual kiss thing that the two of us made up. It's supposed to be 'cute', whatever that means. I heard footsteps and looked towards the forward well deck as Jason came walking up. "What's up, man? How you been out here."

I nodded towards him. It still bothered me that he was an inch taller than me. "Okay. I'm just having a conversation with this annoying bluetooth thing."

The piercing noise hit me in my ear again, and I winced visibly. Jason raised an eyebrow. "I'm guessing she heard that?"

I rubbed my ear; the noise ceased. "Yeah. I would guess so."

He looked around at the ship. "This was that guy Luke's ship, right? When he was Kronos and everything? He took this ship and that's where your friend Beckendorf sacrificed himself?"

I looked at him. "How did you know that?"

"Annabeth told me a few years ago. When you were lost or whatever."

I nodded in understanding and looked out towards the water. Jason looked at me with his light blue eyes. "What state are we in right now?"

I closed my eyes. "We're in…"

I opened my eyes and sighed. "Rhode Island. A river in Rhode Island. A few more hours and we should be in the Atlantic Ocean, sailing south towards Florida, our first stop to get the pitchfork from Hades."

Jason looked at me; he only caught one part of what I just said. "Rhode's in love with you, man. Keep your eyes open; I can tell from your body language that you're afraid of her."

I scowled. "That wouldn't be any of your business, now would it?"

He looked at me and smiled. "No, but I know that kind of business. And I know that she's in love with you. And I know that we're in the state named after her and you need to keep your eyes open."

I looked at Jason when the entire back of the ship exploded.

Jason and I got thrown to the floor, as we sprinted down to the lower level where everyone was still sleeping. "WAKE UP! LET'S GO! TROUBLE!"

Everyone burst out of their rooms, most of them being completely controlled by their adrenaline alone. We all ran to the main level as we saw a large ship riding next to us. Standing at the edge of the ship, with full Greek battle armor and with a huge sword, was a young man of about 24, who was looking at me with ocean blue eyes. He had raven black hair, like Rhode and I. He looked as if he was trying to grow a beard, and he looked rebellious, like he was a runaway or something. He was ripped, with muscles that coursed through every part of his body. He stood confident, as if looking to destroy anyone that stood in his way.

I then realized that he didn't seem like the normal ship plunderer. I realized with a start what he was, but he looked nothing like they do on TV.

He was a pirate. I looked for the eye patch and the wooden leg, but I couldn't seem to find one. Hazel whistled. "Is he a god? Because Percy, you and him could be brothers."

He grinned as hundreds of warriors and fighters scrambled out from the decks.

"I AM TRIOPAS!" He gestured to himself, as if him being named Triopas was some huge accomplishment. "ONE OF THE HELIADAE!"

I narrowed my eyes. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Rhode's eyes flash with fear and anger, as she started backing up behind me.

Wait a minute…the Heliadae is…

Their ship turned completely towards the _Princess Andromeda_, and they sailed straight towards us at a deadly speed. The people on the boat yelled with drunken valor, as if they were personal friends with Dionysus.

"I AM TRIOPAS," he repeated. "AND I'VE COME FOR MY WONDERFUL MOTHER, RHODOS!"

Rhode started to hyperventilate as she grabbed onto my arm in desperation. "Perseus…help me…"

He grinned at her panic as he yelled, "ATTACK!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Percy POV**

As this mental case Triopas sailed his ship towards ours at 40 knots, I came to a stunning realization.

Rhode lied to me.

This is one of her sons…one of Helios' sons. She told me that they had killed each other, but now I know that they're still alive. Or at least this guy.

Rhode trembled behind me. I looked at her with a dark shadow on my face. "You lied to me."

Her face dropped as her mouth opened in a small _o _as she tried to come up with an explanation. I shook my head in disappointment as I looked back to Triopas. I heard in my ear, "Percy! This guy is one of the Heliadae! He is Triopas, and he is one of the brothers that banded together and killed his brother out of spite of the brother's superior intelligence! Don't forget…he's a son of the girl standing next to you, and Helios. So he probably has some tricks up his sleeve."

I nodded as I clicked my pen, revealing Riptide. Triopas grinned wickedly as his ship sailed towards ours; he was anticipating a fight. Hoping for one.

Triopas yelled, "GIVE IT UP, SON OF POSEIDON! YOU CAN'T WIN! THAT GIRL THAT'S WITH YOU, IS MY MOTHER! SHE LIED TO YOU. SHE'S A LIAR! GIVE HER TO ME, SO I CAN GIVE HER TO MY FATHER!"

Rhode coughed as she started to shake. She tried to put on a brave front as a mother, "TRIOPAS! YOU SIT DOWN RIGHT NOW-"

"YOU THINK I'M GOING TO TAKE ORDERS FROM A TEENAGE GIRL?!"

Triopas slammed his sword on the mast of the ship, and the seven demigods gathered around me. Thalia grinned as she looked at the other sailors that were on the ship with Triopas. "Just like old times, Kelp Brain?"

I smiled at the memories of me and Thalia fighting together. "Like old times. Nico, get to that ship wheel and turn it as far as you can to the right, so they won't crash into the boat. Jason and Thalia, to me and Rhode. Rhode-"

I tossed her an old, silver sword that I found on the deck of the ship. "This sword belonged to the original Perseus himself. It came with the ship. Impress me."

Rhode nodded, took the sword and shifted her clothes into battle gear. Jason flipped his coin and his double edged sword landed in his hand. I winced at the vision of Rhode stabbing the camper with Jason's sword, but quickly pushed it out my mind.

"TEAM, MOVE OUT!"

I sprinted towards the edge of the deck, grabbing Rhode's wrist and pulling her with me. She was tense, as if expecting me to throw her off the edge for lying to me. The six other demigods ran with me, the wind whipping at our faces reminded me of Hermes' bottle of the winds of the earth.

Triopas grinned as he raised his sword in anticipation, watching us sprint to our deaths.

I leapt as far as I could, and realized that I had undershot it. I was going to fall.

Jason and Thalia hovered a little bit to get to the other ship, Nico and Hazel stuck with me and Rhode as I created a water wave to run on so we could reach the ship.

The two children of Zeus landed on the ship, and the sailors attacked them, each of them smelling like old rotten dirt and human flesh. Jason sliced and fought to stun, while Thalia fought to knock out. She pushed sailors back with Aegis, and blasted some with low-energy blasts of lightning. Jason stabbed, rolled, sliced, disarmed, and kicked sailors into kingdom come. They were unstoppable together.

Nico landed on the ship with Rhode and I, and instantly ran towards the wheel. About six large sailors stood in his way, but Hazel screamed his name, throwing a gold coin on the deck. Nico jumped all around the coin so he wouldn't touch it. The sailors, them being pirates at heart, lunged for the coin, and as soon as they touched it, a white silvery light erupted and the sailors were gone.

One of the sailors yelled, "Captain! These kids fight like demons!"

Triopas sniffed. "Then purge the demon out of them."

Nico reached the wheel, and cut it to the right as far as he could, as if he was parallel parking. The ship started to turn, forcing the sailors to lose their balance.

Rhode was doing well. She was fighting just as brutally as when she was fighting the Ares cabin, maiming and slicing off valuable body parts. She avoided a sword swipe, and cut off the guy's hand, kicking him in the ankle at the same time. She closed her eyes and columns burst out of the water and crashed into the sailors, knocking them out. I saw Triopas in the midst of the sailors, creeping towards her with a look of pure hate.

"Percy, behind you."

Annabeth's voice sounded in my ear, and I turned around and punched a sailor in the face. I stabbed and rolled, concluding that these sailors were either monsters, dead, or demigods if Riptide had an effect on them. Three sailors came to me with their large swords, and attacked at once, looking to slice me up from three different angles.

I parried one, and hooked it out of his hand so it flew and stabbed the other sailor. I sliced the last sailor in the knee, and he buckled from the loss of use of his knee. I kicked him in the face, then held out my hand.

The entire ship tilted as a huge wave flew up, threatening everyone on board. Nico and Hazel looked up and I could've sworn I heard an "Oh, no" from one of them. Rhode looked up and knocked one of the sailors out brutally as all of us looked at the wave.

It flew down and crashed on the boat, cracking the wood and breaking a hole into the ship. Sailors drowned, and I inhaled as the sea water surrounded me. The ship was overflowed with water. With new found strength, I attacked every sailor who was swimming; one of them, I kicked in the face so he lost consciousness and drowned. Another person, I went underwater and held him there until he stopped thrashing. I swam up to the 'surface' and saw Triopas' face; he was standing _on top _of the water.

"PERCY! He's a son of Rhode, a grandson of Poseidon. He might have hydrokinesis also. You have to improvise." Annabeth sounded scared for my life.

He shook his head. "You think you're better than me, Perseus. Think again! Rhodos will not be your Andromeda. Not today."

I gave him my wolf stare, and his words faltered. I waded towards him, concentrated, then burst into the air from a rocket propellant of water. I flew in the air towards him and hacked down with Riptide. He parried it with his sword, then kicked me in the chest.

"I am Triopas! I have killed men mightier than you!"

I saw stars; he was strong. He punched me in the face as I flew towards the still-overflowing deck. I hit the water and immediately didn't feel any more pain. I burst back out and sent a quick column of water to his face. It hit his forehead and he cried out as he fell off his little platform and onto the deck.

The water had emptied, and the sailors were dead; except for Triopas.

I looked around and saw Thalia coming out from her force-field created by Aegis. Jason, Nico, Thalia, Hazel, and Rhode were all underneath her shielding.

"Way to go, Seaweed Brain. Muuahhh."

I grinned as I heard Annabeth in my ear again.

They gathered around me as I pointed Riptide towards him. "Give it up, Triopas."

We heard Annabeth's voice; "Is everyone okay? My signal went out after the little…bath that my boyfriend gave all of you. Nico was starting to smell anyway."

Everyone laughed; a tired laugh with traces of victory in it. Triopas sneered. "It burns you, doesn't it, Jackson? To come so close to having peace after beating Gaea. You're the big shot of Olympus…but you can never get a break. No peace. It has cost you all your strength; as you can see, you barely stunned me."

I stared at him as Thalia pointed Aegis towards him. "Shut up."

"The daughter of Zeus! The virgin! You're going to die like Rhodos' only daughter…alone! A VIRGIN! No man will ever want you! Look at you."

Thalia scowled. "I said…"

"SHUT UP!" She smacked him with Aegis, and he fell to the ground hard. He recovered, but she held the shield in his face.

He winced under the power of Aegis, but he looked back at me with a craze in his eye. "Helios is back, Jackson. He is back for our mother Rhodos. And he will stop at nothing before he gets her back. My brothers are coming. Everyone is coming. They will stop you, Jackson. _Ochimus _will find you, Jackson. He is the oldest and the strongest out of all of us, and when he comes, I hope that you fight better than you did."

The last word he said was accompanied with a comforting spray of saliva. He looked at Rhode. "Rhodos, your time has come. Stop running; Helios has taken us from the dead. He has that power now."

Rhode shook her head as a tear fell from her eye. I realized with a start that this was her son; a man that she gave birth to and that she still loves. "Triopas, I did my best with you. I tried to raise you to the best of my ability, but Helios corrupted you."

Annabeth muttered, "This is so weird. She's like, 12."

"HELIOS did not corrupt me, mother! You did! How do you expect to raise seven sons and a daughter if you're not able to lay down rules and protect yourself? We walked all over you and as soon as we could leave that pathetic island, we did. Because you were on it, you made it pathetic. I am awakened by my loyal father, and do you know what I see? In the United States of America? Is a state. Named after you and your island. WHERE IS THE STATE NAMED FOR ME! FOR THE HELIADAE! You will die, Rhodos. You will die painfully. Intimately. And when you die, we will all rejoice in gladness, and take advantage of your corpse-"

Rhode screamed and held out her hand. Triopas faltered and his body started to freeze up. I looked at Rhode. "What are you doing?"

Triopas started to convulse, his screams were muffled by him not being able to open his mouth. Jason got nervous, "RHODE! What are you doing?!"

Annabeth added, "PERCY! DO SOMETHING! She's killing him!"

Triopas was shaking now, as water flowed out of his mouth, ears, and nose. Pure water flowed right out, and Triopas started looking dry. Like a colored statue. Dust started to fall from his lips as all the water went out of him.

Rhode yelled and cast the water into the ocean, leaving a stony and dusty husk of what Triopas used to be. I bent down and touched him; his body crumbled into the dust of human skin.

I looked at Rhode. "What the hades was that?"

Rhode was still breathing heavily. "I took the water out his body. The only thing in there now is dry solid organs, effectively killing him."

Nico swallowed. "Yeah, he's dead all right. He's still shouting curses at Rhode even as he's on his way to Tartarus. Kind of sad."

Thalia looked at me. "You okay?"

I just looked out to the sea. Some more people were coming. More of the Heliadae."

Annabeth laughed in my ear. "Um, Percy? Yeah, the ship is still sinking."

I then felt a sinking movement; I forgot that the ship was sinking. She was right, of course.

I looked behind me, and half the boat was submerged. I realized that Triopas was trying to get our attention so we wouldn't notice that we were in danger until we were submerged. Then he could become active again and work to drown all of us. But Rhode took care of that.

She killed him.

Her own son.

Hazel touched my arm. "You okay, Percy?"

I shook my head. "Yeah."

I was about to form another water bridge, but I heard something. I stopped and looked behind me, concentrating on my advanced hearing that Lupa gave me. I heard the word, 'help'.

"Percy, someone is in the brig!"

I looked around the sinking boat, and I ran towards the brig. I sprinted to the lower level of the ship, and I heard much more vividly, "HELP!"

I sprinted to the right of the hall and saw a cell with a guy in it, maybe like 20 years old. He had black hair and ocean blue eyes; he looked like a relative of Triopas. He had ripped robes on, and he had several gashes on his head as if he had gotten beaten badly. He had large, intelligent eyes that observed everything and recorded everything.

Annabeth muttered, "Woah…it can't be him…"

I didn't know who this guy was, but I just sliced the bars in half and grabbed his arm, pulling him up to the main level.

The problem was that we were underwater already.

Jason and Thalia had already flew the others to the _Princess Andromeda, _but Triopas' ship was underwater. I looked down at the guy I just saved, and he shrugged, taking a deep breath and exhaling. He said underwater, "_I can breath underwater. I get it from my mother." _

I nodded and made a _not bad _face as I grabbed his wrist, swimming him up to the surface. The ship's anchor flew towards me, and I narrowly avoided it cutting off my head.

But we didn't avoid the chain.

The chain, just as heavy as the anchor in a way, reached around us and pulled us down to the sea floor. The ship was floating down towards us, and if we stayed there, we were going to be destroyed. The guy that I had saved pointed his fingers and was talking to himself as if he was making a calculation.

Then, he used one finger and sliced down at one chink in the chain, destroying the entire anchor chain by disassembling it. The chain fell apart, and we were free.

We swam up and burst out the water and onto the boat, met by the other seven demigods.

The dude was soaking wet, and collapsed on the wall of the ship. He grinned tiredly towards us. "There's…there's a lot of power on this ship. Demigods, I presume. Of the Ancient Three, most likely. This one here, who saved me, is probably a son of Poseidon."

He pointed at Jason. "He, by his aura and his eyes, and his simple weapon is most likely a son of Zeus, along with the one with the black hair and shield of Medusa. The two younger ones are probably children of Hades, judging by their antisocial posture-"

"Hey! We are not antisocial!"

"Actually, I am."

"Well I'm not!"

"-and the beautiful girl there with the tanned skin and the eyes like mine happens to be my mother."

Rhode looked at him and inhaled sharply. She grabbed onto Thalia for support, which made Thalia reach for her sword. Everyone turned to Rhode, then turned to the dude, nodding as if they could see the resemblance.

The dude looked at all of us. "Pleasure to meet all of you demigods. I am the demigod that they chained and killed because they were jealous of my intelligence. I was also the only one who didn't hate my own mother, in fact, I was her favorite. I am one of the Heliadae, the pride and joy of the team that was celebrated throughout the seas. I am Tenages."


	11. Chapter 11

**Percy POV**

I sat on the bow of the ship and watched as Tenages told the entire crew stories; he was smart. I had to give him that. He told the entire group all these stories about what he's seen and what he knows about the world.

I closed my eyes. The air was humid, and the sun was setting…night was coming. Clouds were coming in as if a storm over sea was going to commence.

I took a deep breath as I heard Rhode's voice. "Tenages…do you know who Andromeda was? Me being on the island almost cut off all contact from the world for countless years…I lost count. You, on the other hand, explored and heard stories, and learned things that happened. So do you know who she was?"

Tenages looked at Rhode, and his gaze towards her bothered me. It wasn't anything malicious, or the fact that he hated her or something, because those are all inaccurate.

It was the fact that he looked at his own mother as a peer, and not as a figure of any type of authority to him. It may be one of the reasons why he's so smart, since he didn't have a proper mom to pick him up and put him back in his bed whenever he wandered off in curiosity as a toddler. He wandered off and went to go explore the world, getting smarter in the process.

He cleared his throat. It was then that I realized that the brother who was killed by his own siblings was bigger than me. He must've been about 6'3, and he was muscular in a lean type of way. If the two of us wrestled, it wouldn't be an easy match.

"Perseus was a brave lad. A hero, even. He had just slain the gorgon Medusa, and he believed himself to be invincible. He was a son of Zeus, and he was not afraid of anything. Never backed down from a challenge. A strapping young man, he was eager to go on a quest to prove himself."

Jason nodded in slight approval. "An attitude of a true Roman."

Nico sniffed. "Or a fool."

Tenages looked at the son of Zeus as he was glaring daggers at Nico. "Alas, he was a Greek hero. Romulus and Remus were purely Roman, and Perseus was pure Greek."

Everyone on the boat either purposefully or subconsciously looked at me as my namesake was being described. Tenages made a connection almost instantly. "Is your name Perseus or something? Are you related to this hero?"

I raised an eyebrow. "My name is Percy. Percy Jackson."

Tenages smirked. "Is that short for Perseus? 'Tis an interesting name. Your mom must have had a very interesting sense of humor if you are a son of the sea god. Anyway, Andromeda was the daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus. Cassiopeia bragged about how she's more beautiful than the Nereids, the beautiful daughters of the old sea god Nereus."

I shuddered at the mention of the old, barnacle encrusted, smelly god. "Caught him a couple years ago. Not too pleasant to be around for too long."

Tenages managed a dry smile. "An elusive one, is he not? I suppose that you were looking for answers that would help you with some kind of prophecy? You must've had to make a good disguise."

Thalia coughed. "It was a beautiful outfit. Zoe and I definitely approved of his boots and huge rain jacket. It was priceless."

I heard Annabeth's laugh in my ear and I glared at Thalia in return, but she didn't seem to catch on. Tenages cleared his throat again. "Cassiopeia bragged about her beauty, and was punished by Poseidon. He told the Oracle of Delphi that the only way that she would escape punishment for the entire kingdom was to sacrifice her own daughter. The beautiful Andromeda."

I subconsciously looked at the image on the inside of the boat, and I looked at the image of horror captured in the woman's face. I silently apologized to Andromeda.

Tenages continued. "An act of extreme cowardice, Cassiopeia chained Andromeda to a rock to be devoured by the Kraken. Perseus, however, had a different train of thought. He used a Pegasus and saved Andromeda from the Kraken, defeating the Kraken in the process. Poseidon wanted to destroy him, but out of Zeus' wishes, spared his life. As a result, Poseidon swore to one of my brothers during one of their quests that he would name one of his kids after the hero just to annoy Zeus, but that person hasn't come…."

He looked at me as if he saw me for the first time. "And he is standing right in front of me."

I face palmed myself as I looked out to the ocean. "Nice to know that my name came from a joke."

I heard Annabeth in my ear, "Percy….I love your name, if it means anything."

I leaned on the front of the boat angrily and the waves surged a little bit faster, prompting the entire boat to speed up faster than it had ever been moving before. Suddenly, I felt a huge force resisting me, and the wave motion ceased. I turned around to see Thalia's hand on my shoulder while Hazel was massaging my shoulders to relax me (she was pretty good).

But I also saw Rhode with her hand out, while she watched me intensely. "Calm yourself, Perseus. You will be fine."

I grinned at her gratefully. She really did calm me down. I was getting ready to turn around and thank her when I sensed something. A huge tingling in the back of my skull. I turned around and my jaw dropped.

"DANGER! FROM THE BACKSIDE!"

A huge boat was following the _Princess Andromeda _and there was a man standing on the deck of the ship, looking all intimidating and whatnot. He had long black hair that fell down around his face like a woman, but his shirtless muscular body was obviously that of a man. His scowl twisted into a gruesome smile when he caught sight of his brother. His eyes were a light golden, as if he was a Titan.

Tenages tensed. "Ochimus. The eldest of the Heliadae. The leader of the quest to raise up our father, Helios, and the leader of the mission to kill me. Ah, do I love family reunions."

I cursed myself for being ignorant and allowing myself to be caught up in story time. I got out Riptide and lightning flashed while thunder boomed in the distance. Clouds had overridden the sky, and light rain started to fall.

Tenages leaned forward and tensed his body when he heard the thunder. Jason turned around and curled his lip up at the son of Helios. "What's the matter? Scared of a little thunder?"

Tenages narrowed his eyes at the son of Zeus. "You should talk. Considering that you're still afraid of the dark as a son of Zeus. Tell your father to tone it down, will you?"

Jason's neck contracted in panic; I didn't know he was afraid of the dark still.

Hazel looked at Tenages. The wind picked up, so she had to raise her voice to be heard. "Wait, I thought Helios was a god?! Synonymous with Apollo, or somebody."

I thanked the gods that Hazel was smart enough to change the subject.

Tenages smirked, even in the face of his killer that was less than a mile away. "Many thought him to be a god, but Apollo is really the god of the sun. Helios was a Titan, but was excommunicated by the Titan family early on. That's why you will never see him in family trees as a Titan, but his parentage and his powers are worthy of him being a Titan."

Thalia looked back at him. "Have any kind of idea what Helios is planning?"

He clenched his jaw. "He's going to take his sun chariot and take it for a joyride across the earth. Burn it up and different stuff to strike back at the gods."

Wait…so he was just going to take his sun chariot that his son burned the earth with and take it for a joyride? Killing innocent people…oh, sorry, I meant the entire human race.

Jason narrowed his eyes at Tenages while Nico coughed. "Um, guys? Looks like we have a situation here!"

We all looked up and saw fiery comets hurtling towards the ship. Thalia banged Aegis on the ground and expanded her forcefield to cover the ship. The comets crashed into the shield, and Rhode and I stood on the poopdeck of the ship, facing the huge ship.

I held out my hand, and Rhode mirrored my movements. I concentrated, and four huge columns of water burst out of the ocean, crashing into the boat. Rhode imitated me and her four columns crashed into the boat.

The wood cracked, and the ship started to break under the pressure of the water bursts. The mysterious figure leaned over the boat and looked at me with a crazed vengeance. "Son of Poseidon. Uncle."

He grinned maliciously and snapped his fingers.

The entire ship whirled around at super speed and suddenly, we were on that ship, along with Tenages.

We were all in chairs in front of Ochimus, tied up and helpless against the magical bonds he put on us. He looked at me and whistled into the other room.

A huge man who was maybe 6'9 with rippling muscles and long flowing blonde hair walked out with full Greek armor on that protected every part of his body; he would be almost impossible to hit.

Ochimus looked at me and took ahold of my face. "Perseus Jackson. The hero who rose to defeat Kronos and Gaea. What are you going to do when my father rises and destroys everything you live for?"

I spat in his face. "Destroy him. Simple as that."

He sneered as he wiped his face. With one swift motion, he smacked me hard in the face, toppling my chair to the ground. Thalia cried out, but Ochimus waved his hand and created gags in everyone's mouths.

"If only it would be that easy. Where is your mother now? Your trainer, Chiron? Your namesake? Where is your father, now? As a matter of fact, let's see where he is."

I glared at Ochimus as he took his sword and raised it high in the air…

Then cut my ropes in half.

I was free. The huge man stepped forward and looked at me. Ochimus laughed gleefully. "Perseus, meet my friend Tlepolemus. Son of Heracles. More than your match. And I see…the love in my mother's eyes for you. What is there to love? Weakness? Luck? I will show Rhodos…by bringing her to my father!"

Tlepolemus stepped forward and I took Riptide out. I concentrated on the sea beneath me; I had to win. I had to be strong for my team. I promised Rhode that I would protect her.

But the water wasn't responding.

It was as if I was near the Styx again. I felt helpless near the water. It wasn't responding to any of my movements. And Ochimus was smiling as if he was doing it on purpose.

He probably was. He has the most power since his power is combined with Helios' and Rhode's own power.

I couldn't let him see my weakness, so I raised Riptide in a battle ready stance. I charged Tlepolemus, looking to run him through, but the blade glanced off his armor, twisting my wrist painfully.

He grabbed my wrist and flipped me over his head effortlessly and slammed me on the deck of the boat, hard. I winced in pain as he grabbed me again and punched me in the face as hard as he could. Rain buffeted my face as I struggled to stay conscious.

I've never gotten hit that hard in my life. Not by Kronos, Gaea, monsters, or anyone. He was strong as Heracles himself (or at least how strong I would think Heracles to be).

I got up and stood back, trying to look for this guy's weakness. Somehow, someway, there was no weakness that I could find. I attacked him, looking to slice his face and blind him so his strength would be useless.

He caught Riptide and bent it, throwing it over the side of the ship. I then tried to throw a quick punch, but he caught my fist and easily crushed all the bones in my hand. It was times like these where I missed the River Styx.

I winced and went to one knee, then to the ground as he kicked me in the chest.

The brute picked me up again, and threw me back down onto the boat viciously, deafening the muffled cries of my friends. Despite my blackened vision, I could see Thalia with lightning flashing in her eyes; Jason with pure anger, Rhode with despair and sadness in her eyes, Nico with defeated acceptance, Hazel with defiance. Tenages looked at his brother with pure disgust.

Pain shot through my entire body as I struggled to get up. Ochimus laughed maliciously. "Goodbye, son of Poseidon. Say hello to your father for me."

Tlepolemus kicked me in the side, breaking some of my ribs, then followed with a swift kick to the face, breaking my nose, and cracking my skull.

Blood ran down every part of my body, my shirt in tatters.

I heard Annabeth's voice. "Thank the gods I fixed it. PERCY! PERCY! Percy, don't leave me. You stay with me right now. You'll get through this. Not today. Not now. No, Seaweed Brain."

I coughed up blood as I managed to mutter, "I'm sorry, Annabeth."

I charged in one last attack and tried a sweeping kick. He blocked the attack easily, took hold of both of my legs, then snapped them so that my shins was parallel with my arms if I stuck my arms straight out, as far as I could on both sides.

Annabeth screamed in my ear as I had trouble thinking straight. Faces came and faded, as I tried to get it together and take hold of the water. Ochimus blocked my contact, and I cried out in pain.

My breathing slowed as my vision went black.


	12. Chapter 12

**Percy POV**

_Wake up. _

"_Come on, baby, wake up." _

_My son, wake up. Wake up for Annabeth. For your mother. _

"_Seaweed Brain, you better not leave me." _

Suddenly, a sea breeze engulfed my nose and my slightly ajar mouth, changing to oxygen in my body. I inhaled sharply and deeply, then quickened my breaths to try to get the pace back to a normal rhythm.

I opened my eyes, and came to a realization; I was upside down.

Annabeth's voice sounded in my ear. "Thank the gods! Percy, are you okay? You're hanging from the ceiling because Tenages wanted to fix your legs before he was taken away to another room."

I was hanging from the ceiling by a strong rope that held my legs together and forced them straight; I tried to move my legs, but the nerves and control receptors were completely fried. I wasn't fully healed yet.

There was a bed in the corner of the room, but I was hanging upside down as if someone wanted to play a cruel joke. There was a sink, and I realized that I was still in the boat.

I looked at my body and saw that I looked like someone poured a bucket of blood on my shoulders, and where the blood ran down, it was dry, tough, and smelly. I concentrated on keeping my breakfast down (or technically up) as I saw my injuries.

"I am sorry, Percy."

Annabeth coughed. "Oh gods…what is she doing here? Out of all people?"

I looked straight and even upside down, I could see the confident posture and smell the engulfing perfume of the goddess of beauty, love, and sex.

I gritted my teeth. Why must she always show up at the most inconvenient times, only coming to make predictions about how I'm going to die alone and bitter unless I profess my love to Annabeth on the mountaintops?

"Aphro….Aphrodite…"

She snapped her fingers and the dried blood disappeared from my body as a pink glow surrounded my body. I could feel my bones in my leg melding and shaping into their original positions, and I could feel the rope magically lengthening until I was on the ground, on my back.

She strode towards me, took Riptide out of my pocket, and sliced the ropes off my leg. After that, she carried me with ease and set me on a bed in the corner of the room, sitting on the edge of it as if she was thinking deeply about something.

Why was she here? I felt like 100 percent, but there's no motive here.

She looked at me, and she looked like Annabeth with make up on for a second, then shifted to her default look that resembled Megan Fox. Something was different, though, she didn't cake herself in makeup, and she seemed like she was on a mission.

I looked at her the best that I could from my position lying on the bed. "I hope you don't expect me to bow. What do you want, Aphrodite?"

She looked at me with sorrow and regret in her eyes. "It's all my fault, Perseus. This whole thing. Helios rising. Him sending his avatars killing innocent people and having us as the gods, to expend effort to stop them from rampaging on this planet. Your new friend."

I looked at her. "Wait, avatars? My new friend? You mean my sister? Rhode? What do you mean?"

She looked at me sorrowfully, and reached towards me with one finger, touching my forehead lightly.

_Suddenly, I was on a beach, and three younger men stood in a sort of triangle. They emanated so much power from them that I was able to feel their power from standing in my dream self. It was cloudy, and it was drizzling with raindrops; however, the sand looked brighter, the ocean looked bluer, the palm trees looked greener, the rain seemed bluer. Everything seemed more vibrant, despite the rain. _

_The first one that I noticed had blonde hair and reminded me of Chris Hemsworth from Thor. He had a small beard/5 o'clock shadow thing going on, and his sky blue eyes popped out. He was smiling and looked young and strong. He was the biggest out of the three, the most muscular, and the most confident out of the three. He was wearing a simple white robe with gold trimming. _

_The second one reminded me of Tom Hiddleston when he played Loki; he was tanned and had longer black hair for a male, and a knowing, cynical smile. He was the least intimidating physically, but emanated a quiet strength that made people think twice before attacking. He was lean and seemed that he could hold his own in a battle. He had a black robe with white trimming. _

_The third one reminded me of the guy from the Hunger Games who played Gale. His hair was the darkest shade of black, and his eyes were a deep sea green. His hair was close cropped, as if he got a haircut. His skin was as tanned as the second one, he was as tall as the first one, and he had a twinkle in his eye as if he knew something that you didn't. His posture suggested that he wasn't one to boss around, or to restrain. He was normal muscular as if he was someone who engaged in intensive regular exercise. He had on a green robe with blue trimming. _

_The one with the longer black hair looked up towards the mountain. "It feels good, does it not, brothers? To be free from the tyranny of our father." _

_The third one with the green eyes grinned, compelling me to smile also. He had a contagious smile. "You can say that again. But since our baby brother freed us, he shall rule." _

_The second one whipped his head toward the speaker. "What? Shouldn't the oldest male rule?" He pointed towards himself, while the second one shook his head. "He was the strongest one and had the fortune of being the one to grow up in the actual world. Technically, he has the most time in this world, and should rule it." _

_The first one looked between the two and smiled. "Brothers. Does it matter who rules and what they rule? We will be the most powerful; the oldest males. Let us just enjoy our freedom. The Cyclopes assured me that we should separate so they can give us our specific items of power." _

_I realized with a start that I was looking at a young Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. They looked so…young. So strong. So vibrant. So peaceful. I realized that I was looking at a newly created world. _

_It was a huge contrast between seeing my father like this compared to what I saw him like when I was 16 and saw him as an old man in his palace._

_Hades looked so peaceful, so good-natured. He actually looks like he would say hi to you if you greeted him. Not the same person who puts a demigod hero in a prison to die. Zeus looks so fun-loving and adventurous. Not the person that was ready to kill my sister. _

_Poseidon threw his fist up. "What am I ruling, brother?" _

_Zeus grinned at Poseidon and clapped him on the shoulder. "The seas, my brother. The most abundant reserve on this world. You will be the ruler of the seas. Your item shall be a trident." _

_Poseidon grinned. "A worthy domain of power. I appreciate it." _

_Hades looked at Zeus with an anticipating glint in his eye. "And what about I, brother?" _

_Zeus looked at Hades and his smile turned into a blank expression. He cleared his throat. "I was going to have you rule over the earth, and the underground. All the riches that is spread out on the earth will be considered yours, and you only have to provide housing for the dead. Nothing else." _

_Hades smirked. "Not as impressive a domain, Zeus, but worthy of my status nonetheless. Thank you." _

_I realized that Zeus just lied to Hades, which would be a reason why Hades is so bitter towards Zeus and the Olympians when he was banished to the Underworld. _

_Zeus smiled. "Brothers, great news! My son, Apollo, has been born and I shall put him in charge of being the god of light and the sun. _

_Hades frowned. "Do we not already have Helios in the sky?" _

_Zeus shook his head. "He was with the Titans in the Titan War, and can not be trusted. And plus, that incident with Phaethon…and his daughter, Circe? The trickster? He shall be bound in Tartarus and thrown in the depths of that with his siblings and his father, Hyperion." _

_I shuddered in my dream self. Tartarus was not a spot of regular vacation. And Circe? Circe was his daughter? How disgusting. _

_Poseidon raised an eyebrow. "He fought out of loyalty, brother. He should not be punished because of his parentage." _

_Zeus looked at his brother with an almost sympathetic look. "I had a dream. Helios is a threat to us. Kronos cried out to me in my dreams about how Helios would rise and attack us gods. So he is not to be trusted." _

_Poseidon shrugged. "Then keep an eye on him." _

"_I will. In Tartarus." _

_Zeus continued. "But I forgot about what I was going to rule over. I shall rule over the skies. Especially since all of you think I have a big head!" _

_Hades leaned over to Poseidon and whispered, "As if ruling the skies is going to help his ego out." _

_Poseidon laughed as Zeus fake roared in anger and tackled the both of them, play fighting with both of them. _

_A roar from the mountain side erupted, and the three brothers stood, looking towards the mountain. Zeus stood and looked to the sky. "Brothers, to your stations. We shall receive our weapons now. I shall go up in the clouds, Poseidon shall stay here by the ocean, and Hades shall find his way inside a volcano." _

_Both brothers nodded their heads as Hades vanished and Zeus flashed to the heavens. Poseidon looked out to the ocean and watched its steady movement with the waves. _

_I looked at him, he crouched down in the sand and extended his arm, catching some of the sea water coming up in his hand. "An impressive domain, indeed." _

_He grinned, a carefree and slightly mischievous smile. _

_Suddenly, the waves started to increase in turbidity; they moved faster and faster until something washed up upon the shore. Right to Poseidon's hand. _

_A golden trident with a silver and black grip and with silver tipping washed right into Poseidon's hands. He looked at the weapon with awe and held it up almost effortlessly. He cried out, and swept the trident hard to the right, controlling the waves so it flowed in waves to the right. He held out his new weapon, and the water in the sea flowed out and flowed around him in a makeshift water cyclone around himself. He grinned and screamed as a blue-green glow enveloped him, and held up his trident. The earth shook violently, and he banged his trident in the waves. _

"_I AM POSEIDON! GOD OF THE SEAS AND THE EARTHSHAKER!" _

"_Are we done admiring ourselves?" _

_Poseidon calmed down and returned the water back to where it belonged. There, leaning nonchalantly on the side of the mountain, was a woman who happened to be wearing a robe made purely out of water. White foam made her trim, and she looked amazing. She was one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen in my life, and even in a dream, I had to consciously close my mouth. Her body was perfect, and she was naturally beautiful like nature. She had hair that was a color that I couldn't describe, and it kept shifting from silky smooth to perfectly curly. She had a deep purple eyes that changed color if you looked at it long enough. She had a purple flower in her hair._

_Poseidon looked at her and his mouth was open wider than mine. He blinked quickly and composed himself to the best of his ability. "Hello, woman. I am Poseidon, god of the seas." _

_She waved him off and moved closer to him. "So I've heard. Pish-posh, I think, all this talk about power and ruling. I, stranger, am Aphrodite." _

_I opened my mouth. THAT was APHRODITE?! She looks so…so…_

_Natural. _

_No make-up on her, and she actually looks like she would be fun to talk to for hours or days at a time. She managed to look incredibly cute and breathtakingly sexy at the same time. _

_Poseidon cleared his throat. "Um, where have you been? I mean-oy, where did you come from?" _

_She smiled. "I came from all the ruckus that the thing you're holding made up." _

_Poseidon looked at the trident as if it was the first time that he ever saw the trident ever. "Oh, the trident. The symbol of my power." _

_She smiles. "Once again, I know." _

_He cleared his throat and blushed. He held out his hand and created a water dome over the two of them to protect them from the relentless rain. The water that made up the dome still shifted as if it was still in waves, which gave it a beautiful view. Somehow, I was able to transport into the dome. _

_She smiled. "Thank you. So tell me, what has been going on since I came into being?" _

_He gave her a crooked smile and launched into the familiar story about Kronos and him eating his children and how Zeus was a rock, then wasn't a rock, then rose up to defeat his father and assigned the domains of rule. _

_After he was done, she looked at him. "That sounds…fun. Why can I not be a god with you and your siblings?" _

_Poseidon hesitated. "You would need a domain of power. Something that you rule over." _

_She looked at him and smoothed her water robe. "Do you think that I would be able to rule over the principle of beauty? Love? Sex?"_

_Poseidon gulped and blushed. "Um, sure. You would need to ask Zeus…I mean, you are one of the most beautiful creatures I've ever seen…" _

_Aphrodite raised an eyebrow. "One of the most? Who, besides your family, looks better than me?" _

_As she said that, she stood up in the dome and touched her water robe, destroying it. She was effectively naked. _

_He rolled his eyes cockily. "You would not be arousing enough to be the goddess of sex. That is purely ridiculous." _

_She raised an eyebrow. "You are…turning me down, stranger?" _

_He grinned. "I am saying that I am a better love maker than you are." _

_Poseidon coughed nonchalantly and looked up at her as she pushed him to the ground. She straddled him and kissed his neck and everywhere around his face. When she whispered in his ear, I could hear every word. _

"_I am Aphrodite, stranger. Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Sex. And you can not handle me, male." _

_Poseidon inhaled as she kissed him long and deep, obviously leading to more. _

_The vision flashed forward to an indefinite amount of time, to Aphrodite in her water robe and holding a crying baby. Poseidon grinned down at the baby, and kissed Aphrodite on the cheek. _

_The ground started to rumble, as the dust swirled up to form a figure. _

_Hades. _

_He was pale now, with his hair down longer and wetter. He looked like he saw some things that he wasn't supposed to see. It scared me how much he resembled Nico. _

_He looked at Poseidon and grinned. "So you were right about obtaining a consort. You do understand that Zeus is not going to let you keep her, right?"_

_Poseidon frowned. "She just gave birth to my first child. Why wouldn't he let me have her as my wife?" _

_Hades smiled dryly. "I do not know." _

_Lightning flashed in the distance. Hades looked up at it smugly. "It is time for the Olympian meeting. You really did not think that you could hide anything from the god of the earth that you made love on, did you?" _

_Poseidon glared at his brother as he took Aphrodite's hand and flashed to Olympus. _

_Except they left the baby. _

_The baby was left there, crying its eyes out, and Hades was getting ready to teleport to Olympus to get to the meeting. He hesitated and looked at the baby, small and helpless. _

_He curled his lip up and spat. "Spawn of Poseidon. Going to send me to the Underworld. Your baby will lie here, and she will live. But she will pose one of the biggest threats to Olympus and will break Poseidon's heart. That is my curse!"_

_He pointed to the baby, and it screamed as he teleported to Olympus, laughing gleefully. _

The dream faded.

I looked at Aphrodite, who was standing up by the time that the vision was over. My eyes were wide open, looking at her and trying to find the woman that I saw in the vision. "You…you're…Rhode is your daughter. Your child."

Aphrodite looked at the ground as if she was a child that was just caught doing something wrong and was explaining her motive. "He was handsome. Cool. Confident. Strong. Proud. Cocky, if you must. But he was attractive to me, especially since he was the first man that I ever saw since I rose out of the ocean."

I looked at her. "So you banged my father. And the gods banished Helios to Tartarus because of his parentage."

She nodded regretfully. "As you can see, now, he is back with a vengeance, and it's all because of my daughter. She is the daughter of two gods, which makes her a god. She is more powerful than all of you because she's not one of you. She's a goddess. She possesses the full inheritance of all of Poseidon's powers, and possesses my hypnotizing skills. When she saw you, she wanted you. You were perfect in her eyes. And she inherited from me that love has no discrimination between guys, girls, strangers, families, or enemies. When she was kissing you in the cave, and you were under her spell, that was inherited from me. She can shift her clothing to whatever she wants, she can charmspeak as well as I can, and she inherited my beauty. She was raised by clever Nereids, so she is clever, has Poseidon's powers, and has my powers."

I looked at her in pure disgust. "So this is all your fault."

She clenched her jaw as a silver tear fell down her oh-so-perfect cheek. "Helios wanted her. And now he wants her again. He is still bitter about his son, Phaethon, and what happened with him and his death. He's bitter towards the Olympians for imprisoning him, he's bitter towards demigods in general because you're going to be the next age of rule, and he's bitter towards you in particular because you have Rhode's heart at the moment. He's going to rise and look to burn the earth to ashes by completing one full revolution around the earth. It's your job to stop him. And to protect my daughter."

I curled my lip up at her. "That was your job, wasn't it?"

She looked at me angrily. "I'm trying my best now, if you haven't noticed."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean by demigods being the next age of rule?"

She scoffed. "You really think that the gods are going to rule until the end of time? We're going to fade when someone overthrows us, and demigods will be the next powerful beings, and as a result, be rulers."

I stood up and stretched, making sure my joints and legs were flexible and okay to be active on. I crouched down and started doing quick push-ups to get the use of my arms and abs back.

Aphrodite watched me with sorrow. "You know that you're the only demigod who has ever turned me down? Who has ever not asked me for naked pictures or to have sex with them, or to kiss them?"

I sighed. "That's cute. Look, I'm trying to get out of here, so any advice?"

She looked straight at me. "Be on your toes. You will get to Hades sooner than you realize, but don't treat Hades any differently because of the vision. He will capitalize and kill you, then curse me for showing him at his happiest times. And…something like keep your family close."

The door blasted open, and Aphrodite turned invisible. "Thank you, demigod. Make mama proud."

With that, she gave me an invisible kiss on the cheek, and disappeared. I got out Riptide to come face to face with Jason.

He grinned at me. "Looks like you're all better. You ready to go?"

I grinned back at him. "Hell yeah."


	13. Chapter 13

**Percy POV **

Jason and I sprinted to the deck, and when we got there, I stopped and my jaw dropped at everything that was going on.

There was absolute chaos.

I didn't know where all these pirates came from, but they overran the deck. At first, I didn't know how we were going to get through, whether we would display our powers or try to use stealth.

Ochimus and other people who looked just like him (which I assumed were the other members of the Heliadae), were attacking our people while the huge Tlepolemus was keeping Thalia busy. She shocked him and he went down to one knee, while she knocked him out with a backhand swipe with Aegis. She stabbed another one of the Heliadae, and touched the ship deck, electrocuting all the Heliadae and knocking them out. She hustled towards the main deck and joined the main fight.

The other pirates were moving frantically around, as if trying to find somebody; until I realized that they were more _running away _than finding somebody.

Annabeth said in my ear, "Percy! On your toes…oh my gods…"

I saw what was happening.

Thalia started fighting as if someone had killed her best friend (which, in a way, she thought they did), slicing necks and heads off with her sword while whacking people upon the head while shooting bolts of lightning and protecting herself with Aegis. The shield was pretty cool because lately, Annabeth and I had been informed by Artemis that the shield, with its history and power, is only able to be carried by the most worthy heroes, and that Annabeth and I would probably be able to hoist it up on our shoulders. To anyone else, the shield was 10,000 times 10,000 pounds and was not able to be lifted.

Nico was killing pirates on one touch of his new blade. I noticed how he really matured from the bitter little kid who blamed me for the death of Bianca. Now, he was a bitter preteen who blamed me for his bad relationship with his father.

Hazel literally sat casually on the bow of the ship with a full pile of gold next to her. Every time that one of the pirates got curious, they would touch one and disappear without a trace. Her knife is magical also, where it would return to her hand when she commanded it to. She would throw her knife at pirates with deadly accuracy, then return it to her hand.

Rhode was probably the most impressive (**A/N: I finally found a loophole. Fanfiction is not letting me post links, so just go to google and search Emily Rudd on the images. That's what she looks like in my mind.)**, she had her new sword out and was using that, plus her water powers to dominate. She sliced one pirate's neck, turned around and kicked another in the knee, then leapt up and kicked another pirate in the jaw. She yelled out and jets of water flew up from the ocean and shot into five pirate's foreheads. If you've ever gotten sprayed with a hose on the jet setting on your dead forehead, multiply that feeling by twenty and you'll know what those pirates felt.

She was probably the most battle-savvy daughter of Aphrodite that I've ever seen. The glow when she was fighting Annabeth was probably her and her goddess powers being awakened. I finally noticed a little trident necklace hanging from her neck; it was silver and gold and it was glowing every time that she would use her powers. I wondered if that somehow kept her powers in so she wouldn't all out destroy the country or something.

Annabeth said, "You have one trying to kill your sister."

I noticed the pirate creeping up and trying to stab Rhode. I yelled out, "RHODE!"

I got out Riptide and threw it on a rope, but I was too late. The pirate flashed his sword towards Rhode's back, but she heard Annabeth's warning. She instantly snatched off her necklace and she immediately turned into water, avoiding the would-be painful stab. The sword passed right through her body and the pirate stumbled through her body (strange sight) and passed through the front of her body, completely wet and stumbling.

Annabeth smirked. "Capitalize, will you?"

I held out my hand and Riptide returned to me, then I threw Riptide again and impaled the dude in his center. He cried out and went down, as Rhode looked at me in her water form. She collapsed into a wave and flowed towards me, recreating herself into a normal human while putting her necklace back on.

"Perseus!" She grabbed me in a tight hug, and pulled away. "I missed you. Where did you go?"

"I was captured, and let's just say that I was…enlightened about a couple of things."

Annabeth coughed in my ear, then in my empathy link said, "_Daughter of Aphrodite…strange." _

Jason coughed. "Cute story. Look, these pirates are magically reproducing. More and more pirates are being brought from the Underworld and we can't hold our own much longer."

"Jason? Not being able to hold his own? Since when did that happen to the fearless Roman?"

Jason grinned, "You're right."

He clapped me on the back and took out his double edged sword, ready to fight. I walked over and took Riptide out from the dude's abs. I backed up until I was back to back with Jason, using Riptide and jets of water and waves and water-made objects (hammers, guns, swords) while Jason was using lightning and his spear to create a 20 foot radius around each other.

Jason then coughed and I tried to do a backflip the best that I could. Luckily, it was good enough and Jason carried me over his head and placed me in front of him so I could call a huge wave to knock out his pirates. I slid on the wet wood of the boat about 10 feet away from Jason and focused on my pirates, slicing, dodging, disarming, killing, until Jason yelled my name.

Annabeth coughed. "Lightning indicator."

I turned around and held Riptide up as Jason sent a blast of lightning towards me. I 'caught' the blast with Riptide and immediately redirected it towards about ten of the pirates, knocking them unconscious.

"6 o'clock."

I followed my girlfriend's instructions and three pirates crept behind Jason and I said his name casually. He ducked as I executed a new technique. I threw Riptide and concentrated on the water in the air. Parallel to Riptide, and right next to my sword on either side, two swords made out of water formed out of thin air (or humid air, whatever you want to call it).

The water swords then turned into ice, and I had three pirates down with swords in their necks. Jason looked at me and nodded. I grinned.

Annabeth laughed. "If these pirates are reproducing by the magical properties of the boat, then why don't we destroy the boat, boys?"

Nico responded, "That would be a great idea. Jason? Percy?"

I heard Rhode's silky voice. "I can join them."

Thalia's voice. "Not quite, sugarbear. You're staying by my side. Jason and Percy, go."

He grabbed my arm and threw me up towards the sky, the wind drafts allowing me to float. He floated on his own wind draft, and he created an air bubble, where we levitated. I had to admit, I could see where Thalia would get her fear of heights from. The air was much more humid closer to the clouds, and it was starting to get cold. I was honestly afraid, but I couldn't let the younger demigod see the weakness.

Jason concentrated on using his powers, and storm clouds formed in the air, lightning flashing quickly. Wind started to blow at increasing speeds. I thought about what Aphrodite said about demigods being the next age of rule and I couldn't help but think that she had a point while watching Jason's display of power. Any normal mortal would be afraid and would probably give in to whatever Jason wanted unless they were insane.

Annabeth sighed and spoke in a slightly awed-by-Jason's-display-of-power voice. "Uh, Percy? Any time now."

"Oh…my bad." I concentrated and thought about Hades abandoning Rhode and cursing her; she was literally a victim of circumstance.

I gritted my teeth as rain started to fall hard, the waves started to churn roughly, rising in fifty foot crests of water and threatening the boat. Tornadoes formed on the water, whirlpools spun in the ocean, water cyclones rose from the depths, winds buffeted the sails and knocked them down as we looked down at the ship like judgmental gods.

The tornadoes' wind would pull the pirates out of the boat, into the water cyclone which would knock them out from the drowning, then knock them down to the ocean where the whirlpools would funnel them underwater, effectively getting rid of them.

Out the corner of my eye, I saw Thalia floating on air drafts far away from the ship, with Aegis creating a force field around the other quest mates. Now was one of the times where I was really glad that she had gotten over her fear of heights. Tenages was also in the force-field, talking to Thalia and watching our display of power with grudging admiration. I just came to the realization that he was technically more powerful than a god with him being a son of a Titan and a goddess. Rhode looked up at me with such admiration and inspiration that I almost felt the need to show off. Ochimus was barely functional now, as he staggered to the boat and looked up at us.

Instead, I swept my arm with a yell and a huge, HUGE two hundred foot wave rose up and crashed down on the ship, drowning the pirates and cracking the ship's hull. Water surged on the ship, and it looked like there was nothing but water surging on the sea vessel.

Annabeth yelled "NOW!" and Jason pointed towards the ship with a battle cry. A HUGE, scary bolt of lightning flashed down and struck the ship with a lot of force.

What happens when lightning meets water?

The entire ship exploded, killing everyone on board and only leaving ruins that sank to the bottom, unable to threaten anyone else for a couple hundred years.

I gritted my teeth.

Why would my father screw Aphrodite, and then give her up in front of the Olympian council?

Why would she go and leave her daughter?

Rhode is technically my father's first child and his first born child.

So I was the first child born by him in thousands of years, and she was the first child born by him period.

Wonderful. What is my mom going to think? Poseidon…I thought he was the cool dad, but not this is one situation where he doesn't know what to do. And Helios is back? Looking to attack Rhode again?

"Percy! PERCY! PERCY, STOP!"

I focused on my girlfriend's voice and saw Jason closing his eyes and creating an air bubble around himself to protect himself. I looked down and literally saw a full hurricane that was moving throughout the entire ocean and was hurting Thalia's force-field; she was exerting effort to keep the force-field intact. The earth was shaking and I could hear sea animals roaring and screaming in protest in my mind.

Literally, the whole ocean was in a whole water cyclone and the winds were blowing and buffeting Thalia and her little shield, and it would be dangerous for anyone to be unprotected around the water.

I put my hands down helplessly and looked at the whole damage that I was causing. Rhode looked up at me with a sort of hungry look on her face, as if she was proud of the whole thing. Her necklace was glowing for some reason.

I held out my hands and relaxed myself, relaxing myself and thinking about my blue foods and such. The water calmed down and the cyclones and tornadoes dissipated into calm water and humid air. The sea stilled under my raised hand and I sighed in peace. Jason, still floating on the draft, looked at me. Annabeth said warily, "Percy, are you okay? You kind of lost control there. Is everybody else okay?"

I breathed deeply. "Yeah…I'm fine."

Hazel coughed. "That was…powerful. Are you sure you're not a god in disguise?"

Jason grinned and pointed to the left. "Is that our boat over there?"

I followed his gaze and saw our boat, still sailing, miles down the horizon. I grinned. "The _Princess Andromeda _goes pretty quickly. Doesn't waste any time."

We floated down towards Thalia's force-field and Thalia smirked. "Good work, avatars of destruction."

Tenages, in the force-field, nodded towards me. "An impressive display of power by you two young men," but he was looking at me when he said it.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, we all know that Percy can be the god of his own city like Athena was."

He suddenly winced and grabbed his ear and I smirked.

Hazel was looking at me in a strange way, as if it was the first time she has ever seen me. I raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed.

Jason pointed down towards where the boat was. "You see down there? Our boat is still sailing all the way down there."

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "How do you expect to get there?"

I grinned. "Have any of you ever surfed?"

I looked at Nico and he smiled knowingly. It kind of saddened and scared me a little how much he resembled Hades when he was younger. "And yes, Nico, because I'm a son of Poseidon and I'm a really good skateboarder, I can surf really well."


	14. Chapter 14

**Percy POV**

Surfing took about an hour.

We were having fun, and granted, if you and your friends faced a whole bunch of bloodthirsty zombie pirates who were after your friend that they call your mother, you would want to relax your mind a little bit too.

Thalia and Nico were racing to the boat and I was affecting the race by giving Nico bigger waves and giving him a bigger advantage. Somehow Thalia still won due to a low-level shock to his butt, knocking him off his board.

Tenages got the hang of it within…I would say three seconds. Whoever said that this guy was smart made a severe understatement. His intelligence would probably attract Athena herself; and he wasn't proud and boastful like the others Heliadae or the other smart people in history.

Jason and Hazel were riding on the same board, trying to learn how to surf together as opposed to failing miserably by themselves. Rhode had to be taught by me and Tenages how to surf, and she called it, "one of the most challenging activities that humanity has ever came up with."

At one point, both Jason and Hazel fell off their board, and Tenages dove in and saved them from drowning.

Now, we were on our own boat, resting and drying off. Nightfall had come, and the stars were out, serving as a blanket to the huge moon. Most people were in their own rooms, and I was on the deck, making sure that the boat was on course. I was the only one allowed to stay up at night because I don't get seasick, I always know where I'm going, and because I was "the most powerful" out of all of them. I didn't feel too powerful when I got a splinter in my finger and was hopping up and down in pain.

I used my teeth to pick it out; Annabeth was asleep after the two of us talked for about four hours. She stopped talking to me when I realized that it was about three in the morning. I told her to go to bed, and now I'm out here by myself.

"Rough night, yes?"

I turned to see Tenages leaning on the mast; Hazel had given him a haircut, a sweatshirt and some blue jeans with some Reebok sneakers to give him the more modern look. I grinned at him. "You look cool."

He looked down at his clothes and smiled dryly. "Ay, these garments _are _pretty comfortable. They are soft and they do keep me warm. I wish the people in my time would have come up with this. I do not enjoy my hair, though. I can see now."

His jet black hair was close cropped as if he went to a private school, and his deep blue ocean eyes pierced through me, though there was a little gold spark that would glint like the sun peeking through clouds when he was amused or brainstorming.

I laughed and he smiled at my response. He moved to the deck and waved his hand; a chair arose in mid air and he sat in it, just looking at me. Chiron would have to teach me how to do that.

The full moon that was out over the ocean cast an eerie glow on Tenages; he looked something more than human and reminded me of when I first saw Rhode. I now realized that he really is Rhode's son. He looked peaceful with his sweatshirt and jeans, as if he was ready to graduate college and was moving into an apartment. I then realized that if I was lucky, I would end up like what I just described.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "There something I can help you with?"

He raised an eyebrow back. "No. But there is something that I can help you with. But first, I want to get this straight. You are considered the most accomplished and celebrated Greek hero of this century, correct?"

I coughed. "I guess? I mean, I can't even get this splinter out of my finger. Some Greek hero, huh? And plus, I'm sure there are other people who have done more than me."

He grinned. "The famous Perseus Jackson. I heard about your deeds down in the Underworld; monsters galore were talking about you and bragging to other monsters how they got the honor to be vanquished by your sword Anaklusmos."

"Riptide," I corrected. "Wait…they were honored to be turned into a pile of dust?"

He laughed, a smooth sound that instantly put me at peace. "They were pretty happy, and they were smiling and laughing as they brainstormed ways to kill you slowly and painfully when they returned."

I sighed and looked out to the dark blue ocean and the starry sky. "Wonderful to know that some things never change."

"Oh, but they do. Even you, as a mere child."

I grumbled, "Not everyone can be a thousand years old."

I looked at him and he was giving me that piercing gaze of his. Then, he looked up towards the sky. "Then again, the same child who defeated Ares at twelve years old. The same child, however, who retrieved the lightning bolt and saved the world from a catastrophic war between the gods. The same child who retrieved the Golden Fleece and escaped the clutches of the infamous Polyphemus. The same child who awakened our quest-mate down in the rooms and who earned the respect of all the bitter gods. The same child who bore the weight of the sky and took part in defeating Atlas. The same child who saved his love from Atlas' clutches and who ventured through the Labyrinth . The same child who encountered the nymph Calypso as Odysseus did years ago-"

I blushed a little at the mention of her name.

"-and freed her. The same hero who cleaned out the stables. Who obtained and tamed a Pegasus. Who survived an encounter with the Sphinx. Who bathed in the River Styx and defeated the Titan lord Kronos. The same child who defeated Gaea along with several giants and monsters around the way. The same child who fell through Tartarus and came back stronger than ever."

He took a breath as if he was getting ready to continue, but he got a curious look on his face. "Are you sure all of that happened? Because those are not small feats, Jackson."

I looked at him solemnly. "Yes. All of that was me plus a whole lot of help. But it didn't all happen without casualties."

He raised an eyebrow; might I add that it's really annoying when he does that? "That is the life of a Greek hero. You are lucky to still be alive. At the mere wisp of a man, you have broken the scales. You have a beautiful woman, and you need to rejoice in that. The path of a hero is never an easy one."

I looked at him. "Why are you telling me this? Are you getting at some point? Are you leaving sometime soon or something?"

I didn't mean to be rude, I was just honestly curious to see if he was going somewhere. He chuckled and raised his eyes to the stars; I could see his eyes squint when he saw Zoe's constellation run across the sky, and of Heracles and Orion. He then grinned and his eyes glinted in recognition. "Yes, hero. I am getting at a point. You are right on another count, also…I am leaving. I need to get away. Get into the world. There is a lot that has…changed and I need to go and make my mark on the world."

An aching feeling sounded in my chest. I didn't want him to go. He made the group feel safe when he was around because he was the son of a goddess and a Titan, and he was on our side. His intelligence has helped us out a whole bunch.

"You have to…leave? Now?"

He smiled sadly, looking at me. "Alas, I do, hero. But to help you along with your journey, here."

A silvery glow shone through his closed fist, and as he opened it, it revealed a huge glittery diamond. It looked like a million drachmas, and I looked at him for an explanation. He looked at the thing he was holding himself. "Touch it."

I hesitated because I didn't want to smear it or make it look tainted, but I eventually just touched it lightly and pulled my hand away quickly. The diamond broke apart, and my heart broke with it. Tenages grinned and assured me, "Just watch."

The diamond had broken into four rows of six small diamonds (that's…..twenty four?), each of them just as beautiful as the first one. They all glittered in the moonlight. Tenages shook his head and smiled in admiration. "The tears of Hermes. Beautiful, are they not?"

I curled my lip up naturally in disgust. "Um, why are we holding Hermes' tears?"

He grinned at me, as if he found me amusing. Sort of like Triton, but not with the cold look. Just more like a "you'll learn soon enough" look. His eyes glinted golden like sunlight for a second, then reverted back to its original color of ocean blue.

"Diamonds were thought to be tears of the gods. Different tears have different properties that you can use to your benefit, or to the downfall of another. For example, the tears of Poseidon will hydrate something that has been dehydrated. The tears of Artemis will make you invisible and keep you from any hunter. The tears of Ares (if you would happen to make him cry) would give you the blessing of Ares. The tears of Zeus would allow you to fly. Things like that. But, the tears of Hermes, since he is the god of messengers and traveling, happen to be able to transport you wherever you need to go faster than the speed of light. Just obtain some water and put it on these diamonds, they will melt into a liquid. The liquid will be in the form of a liquid tear, and you need to put it in your eye. Concentrate on where you want to go, and you will get there. Do not worry about slips of the tongue; the tears know where you want to go."

I looked at him as he gave the diamonds to me. "Use them at any time. They are really useful at times."

I took my sack out of my backpack and dropped the diamonds in there. "Thanks…I don't really know how to repay you. You've helped us out a lot."

He grinned at me. "You are very welcome, hero. I like you. Not too proud."

"Sounds familiar," I grumbled.

He laughed again and then shook my hand. "This is a gesture of farewell, correct?"

I laughed. "Yeah. Or it could mean hello. Or it could be celebratory. Or it could be sort of a sarcastic action-"

"Forget I asked. The English language is too complicated." He sighed. "I will be on my way. Give my regards to the rest of the quest mates. I will see you around, Perseus. I will look for your name in the stars."

He saluted to me as a light wind blew around us, blowing some water into a personal cyclone around Tenages. When the water flowed back out to the ocean, he was gone, and I was by myself again.

I looked in the bag and saw the twenty-four diamonds still glittering in the bag. I reached into my backpack and pulled out a map from Hermes, a magical map that possesses power-locating abilities given to me by Connor and Travis Stoll back when I was maybe fourteen.

"Annabeth."

There was no answer in the earpiece. "Annabeth!"

Still no answer. I sighed and closed my eyes, thinking to Annabeth from the empathy link.

'_ANNABETH!" _

'_ZZZZZZZ…..' _

I sighed. This reminded me of when I was trying to reach Grover. I tried again. _'ANNABETH!'_

'_ZZZZZ…huh? What? Percy? What's up?'_

'_Tenages left-'_

'_Aw, really? I liked him. He was cool. And smart.' _

'_-I resent that. But he gave me these diamonds.'_

'_What god are the tears from?'_

'_Did everyone know this fact but me?'_

'_Keep going.' _

'_He says they're the tears of Hermes.' _

'_That's great! Now you don't have to sail so long anymore!' _

'_Yeah. But where's Hades' pitchfork?' _

'_Where's the Underworld entrance in Florida?' _

'…_.I don't know.' _

'_The least expectant place.' _

'_Um…'_

'_No. Try again.' _

'…_You gotta be kidding me. Disneyworld?' _

'_You got it.' _

I turned off my empathy link and sighed. We're going to Disneyworld. Hades, here we come.


	15. Chapter 15

**Percy POV**

A few hours later, I was going down around everyone's rooms and knocking on the door with Riptide, trying to wake the crew up. "LET'S GO! LET'S GO! WE GOT WORK TO DO!"

After about half an hour, everyone was up on the deck, rubbing their eyes. Thalia's Huntress magic allowed her to look as if she'd been up for at least five hours and had done her hair and straightened it and everything. However, she looked at me grumpily, as if she didn't appreciate me waking her up from her beauty sleep.

Jason and Hazel looked as if they were regular cranky humans who had been rolled out of bed early, but Nico looked his normal disheveled self. Rhode looked beautiful as usual, but there were two things I realized. First, I realized that I was saying that she's beautiful as more of a brotherly observation than a romantic gesture. Second, I realized that she didn't have her necklace on…didn't it release her full power as a goddess or something?

But I decided not to confront her about it.

She ran her tongue over her teeth as she was looking at me and smiled, sending chills down my spine. The sun had started to peek out from over the clouds, but as soon as I had the crew standing on the deck, the air turned humid again and the clouds reappeared. And Rhode didn't have her necklace….

Speaking of which, Camp Half-Blood _was _raining when Rhode was claimed and after she displayed her power. Just as Tyson and I were claimed by Poseidon. Speaking of which, I wondered how Tyson would take having a new sister. It probably wouldn't matter to him because she's beautiful and he would be fascinated with her hair and whatnot. Speaking of which, I need a haircut.

Sorry. ADHD.

But even still; the more Rhode stays in a place unprotected, clouds naturally form over there and it starts to rain. Every single time. When Rhode's aura was protected from her being in her room or whatnot, the sun started to come out. When Rhode came out, the sun was covered by clouds.

Maybe that was why Helios was so attracted to her.

"Okay, guys, several things. First off, Tenages left."

A cold wind suddenly blew through the boat. Looks of confusion were mirrored on everyone's faces, and a silent tear slid down Rhode's face; Jason awkwardly patted her shoulder. I sighed. "He needed to explore the world. He's way too smart to be confined to a boat with mostly kids. He…I'm sorry Rhode, but he doesn't want to deal with his mother at the time. He needed some time away."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Right when we're getting ready to beat Helios with a huge stick? The actions of a coward."

I stared Jason down. "He didn't leave without giving us some help though. He gave us diamonds…"

Annabeth interrupted me in a sleepy voice, "Cliff notes version, please."

"The tears of Hermes. Basically, they're super powerful eyedrops that can transport us anywhere. And the entrance of Hades in Florida is in Disneyworld."

Annabeth yawned, then continued. "There's this abandoned rollercoaster that seems broken down and dangerous, so nobody rides it. The people with the courage to ride it go through this pretty cool ride with this huge drop…straight to the Underworld, where the train that you're on turns into a boat and you're paddling onto one of the rivers of the Underworld."

Nico grinned. "Sounds gruesome. Let's go."

Hazel shook her head. "There's going to be something guarding it. A monster. Something that is strong enough to keep us all away from the Underworld. It's going to be…hard to get past."

Annabeth agreed. "Good thinking. Helios knows that this Spear of Triam is fatal to him. He's not going to make this trip easy. So how do you think that we're going to get past?"

Jason shrugged. "Look, I have no idea, but shouldn't we think of that when we're there? I mean, we've never been the type of people to have a plan and then stick to it."

Rhode laughed. "Of course. We should go and…how do you modern people say it? Improvise."

Nico grinned. "So let's go."

Thalia held up Aegis, and everyone shut up; even Annabeth fell silent. "Listen, Helios is not going to be merciful with these protectors, so we can't be complacent. All of us are lucky to still be alive, but that luck isn't going to carry on. Percy-"

I looked up at her from cleaning Riptide and she stared at me meaningfully. "You're lucky to have gotten out of Tartarus."

Annabeth inhaled sharply and I flashed back to the endless falling down in Tartarus. The monsters down there that I had killed, the empousai that was down there, the Laistrygonians (Canadians) that I had killed, and other monsters had said some things…they attacked Annabeth and I, forcing us to fight back. We saw monsters in the pure states, and not as Mist-protected figures or monsters with hosts.

The worst was probably Kronos, who was a lava covered creature with glowing eyes and rocks for teeth. He was huge, and I found a newfound respect for Zeus to man up (or god up?) and strike him down with his master bolt.

Kronos, however, casually promised to roast our bodies over an open flame and eat us piece by piece like he did my father and Hades. He psychologically tore Annabeth's mind open, forcing her to go into a vegetative state. I had to carry her the rest of the way to prevent her from falling into some monster's cage and being eaten, killed, tortured, raped, scared, or disemboweled.

It wasn't just us falling, either. I had to fight several monsters that would reach out of their cage to attack me. The worst was when I faced a hungry monster who could shapeshift and fly down to Annabeth and I.

When Annabeth was out of commission, other monsters started falling, which meant that there were heroes killing monsters elsewhere. It would usually go like this; we would be falling, and a gorgon or some monster would appear out of midair, cursing up and down.

Then they would look at us, see that we're fleshlings, and attack us, looking to eat us. I would get out Riptide and switch Annabeth to my far side of my body, and fight the monster endlessly; as I would make contact with it with Riptide, it would turn into dust, then reform again.

I would have to find a way to get the monster to be falling ahead of us, and then be sure they didn't fall through the doors that Leo helped open.

The heat down there was ridiculous; every second down there was burning hot, like placing your head down on a five hundred degree oven and keeping it there until your skin fell off. The monsters showed me my worst nightmares, showed me my mother being eaten and tortured, ancient monsters ramming their heads against the cages and seeing the cage start to buckle was probably the scariest part.

Eventually I had to toughen up because I must've been falling for weeks. I had gotten used to the insults, the heat, the pain, the endless battle, and suddenly, Lupa's training seemed necessary. It all made sense. My wolf stare was nothing down there. My senses sharpened, I got stronger, I got harder, I got fearless, and I got angry. I got paranoid and ruthless, ready to kill if needed. If I didn't become like that, I would be attacked and killed. My corpse would then be abused.

When I got back to Camp Half-Blood, we were instructed to take intense godly psychology from the goddess of psychology and of the soul: Psyche. She separated my normal personality and my…other side. She said that if the other side came out, I could be intensely dangerous to anyone around me, including gods.

Annabeth spoke softly in my head. '_Percy? Are you okay? Have I said thank you for the Tartarus protection? I owe you everything.' _

'_Yeah, you've already said that. Like a hundred times.' _

'_I love you…I thank the gods that we got out of that place.' _

'_The gods had nothing to do with it.' _

I shook my head to get my thoughts of Tartarus out of my head. "Thalia. You have a point. We are not going to walk up to the rollercoaster and blow right past the protector. We need him to fall for a diversion. Hazel and Nico, you two are definitely going, for convincing purposes. Um, Jason and Thalia, you focus on the diversion since you two usually make the most noise."

Thalia and Jason grinned and lightning flashed in the background. I fought back a smile. "Um, Rhode and I will go with Nico and Hazel for scary purposes."

Rhode raised her eyebrows. "We are going to the Underworld?"

I grinned. "Welcome to the life of a demigod."

She raised an eyebrow. I took off my backpack and took out the small sack with the diamonds. I wiped my hand on my shorts and handed one of them to each of them. "You can pour water on it, spit on it, sweat on it, just put some kind of moisture on it and it'll turn it into a liquid that you need to put in your eye. Put it in like a contact."

I held out my hand towards the ocean, but nothing happened. I looked at my hand as if I got something on it that would make it stop working. I tried again and felt for the familiar tugging in my gut, but it never came. My heart started to pound; why wasn't my powers working? I can't lose my water abilities now out of all possible times.

Rhode gently held her hand over my diamond and snapped her fingers. The contact created a small water drop that fell perfectly off her thumb. The drop fell onto the diamond, and the jewel melted into a perfect sphere of liquid. I slid it to my index finger and raised an eyebrow. "Everyone ready?"

Everyone looked at me and nodded. I sighed and tried to push the issue with my water powers out of my mind. "Let's go. Everyone imagine the entrance to Disneyworld in Florida. Hold your possessions, and they'll transport with you."

I heard murmurs of agreement as I slid the drop into my eye. I clutched my backpack and the sack as tightly as I could. A slight wind blew right in my eye. My vision watered for a second, and I doubled over to rub my eye, and when I got the liquid out my eye, I was standing outside a huge amusement park with a huge sign that said "WELCOME TO DISNEYWORLD!"

The rest of the team materialized at the same time, and they all looked around; the park was crowded. The sun was out, but I didn't think that it was going to last too long with Rhode or even me, around for a while.

Little kids swarmed the park, and I sighed. I held out my hand towards the water park and still nothing happened.

What was happening to me?


	16. Chapter 16

**Percy POV**

"Come on, Percy!"

"I'm trying!"

"Concentrate, kid!"

"I AM concentrating!"

"Wow, your powers must really be gone."

"Damn it, Nico, stop being an asshole."

"Sorry, Percy."

I sighed in frustration and slammed my hand against the table. We had spent the entire day trying to find this coaster and trying to fix my powers. The crew jumped as the people around looked at me (including the team) with mixed expressions; some with pity, some with slight fear, some with irritation, and others stifling laughs. I didn't even know what the mortals saw, but I don't think that it was anything normal.

That's the thing with the Mist. It will allow humans to only see what they want to see, and not what is going on. So if they wanted to see someone picking his nose, that's what they would see. I gritted my teeth as I turned to look at the demigods I was traveling with.

We had stopped at a little outdoor table with our food that we bought; the water that I was so desperately trying to coax out of the glass was still sitting comfortably in the cup. It seemed to be laughing at me, calling me some joke or whatever.

Mickey Mouse waved at me in the background, and the huge castle that Disneyworld is known for stood largely behind him. And the one thing about Disneyworld; it was _hot. _The sun blazed down on us, and I promised that if I was capable of getting sunburn, I would die from the embarrassment and the pain. Every one of us were sweating, except for Rhode and Thalia.

We had tried to find some old abandoned rollercoaster in the heat, but the farther we traveled, the harder it was to try to find it. There were _so _many children (and teenagers and adults) that were bustling around that it was hard to find any rollercoaster, much less stand in line for one. Everything was new and a major attraction.

Nico had a huge hat that Hazel won for him on his head, covering his eyes and sliding down every couple seconds. It gave him some shade, though, and I was slightly jealous. How pale he was, he couldn't afford to block out any sunlight from tanning his skin.

He had to push it up and tilt it in a weird way to get it to stay on his head. Because of this, it was hard to take him seriously. "Percy, you need to find some way to get these powers back. And it's not a coincidence that clouds are rolling in."

Sure enough, gray storm clouds were forming in the air. Rhode looked up at the sky and then back at me. "I think your cousin is back."

Her accent was getting better; she was sounding less and less foreign, and more and more like an American.

Jason staggered towards us from the bathroom while clutching his stomach after losing his lunch from a rollercoaster. Annabeth taunted in our ears, "I told you all not to go on any rollercoasters because we were on a mission. But nooooooo, I'm dealing with a bunch of six year olds and a thousand year old teenager. Strange."

I grinned, temporarily taking my mind off my power problem. "But it was fun though."

Hazel laughed. "I liked the part where Percy screamed like a female."

I fake glared at her. "We were so high that Zeus would've never forgiven me."

She smiled cruelly. "We weren't even that high. Don't exaggerate it."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Look, how are we supposed to do this? There are way too many kids at this park-"

Annabeth cleared her throat. "Guys? Behind you."

"Maybe I can be of service."

We all turned behind us and saw a tall-ish man in a perfect-looking white suit. He was the perfect height, perfect tanned skin color, perfect cut hair, and had a winning and charismatic smile. His eyes were a soothing silver. He seemed good-natured, as if he wanted to help people.

That only meant one thing.

Monster.

Immediately, Thalia, Jason, Nico, Hazel, and I got our weapons out and were ready to attack on my indication. The man followed all our weapons with his eyes, but didn't seem freaked out. The perfect dude smiled at Nico, prompting the son of Hades to subconsciously lower his weapon. "You're holding the sword the wrong way, little buddy."

Nico cursed and fixed his posture. The dude frowned at the foul language that Nico used.

He definitely wasn't human because there was so much Mist around these weapons that he would've seen pens and plastic knives as opposed to Riptide and Aegis. I narrowed my eyes. "Who are you?"

I didn't feel powerful at all with my doubts about my powers, but I had to bluff. Since he's not human and he sees us as Greek demigods, he probably knows of me.

He grinned at us as I heard Annabeth take a sharp breath. "That's…the only man who was never corrupted by the sins that Pandora released out of the _pithos _thousands of years ago. That's…"

He grinned and held out his hand perfectly. "Deucalion. Son of Prometheus. It is truly a pleasure."

He looked so honest and genuine that I lowered Riptide and shook his hand. He had a perfectly firm, but still perfectly polite handshake. "Perseus Jackson. I've heard a lot about you from Prometheus…the only demigod to ever prove Prometheus wrong. He thought he had the winning side on the last Titan War, but you proved him wrong. Congratulations."

"Uh, thanks? So you were never corrupted by the evil in the world?", I blurted out.

Nico nodded in grudging admiration as Deucalion chuckled. "Luckily not, no."

Thalia sniffed. "So how come you aren't all inherently evil if you've been around inherently evil people all the time?"

Deucalion laughed, a beautiful sound. Do all these people go to a class to make your laugh sound godly or something? "Because, Ms. Grace, one of the evils of the world that were released was, to put it simply, to make every human impressionable to anything he is around."

Jason nodded in understanding towards him as Deucalion smiled at him. "It's truly a pleasure to meet you all. You all look great, and you look very strong and intimidating. I've heard of each of every one of your feats…" He turned towards Rhode. "Except for you…"

She smiled bashfully and held out her hand. "I am Rhode."

He grinned and laughed again. "Oh, I know who you are. I'm seeing whether or not you are going to change your ways or not from your previous life. Now, you have a second chance. Make the most of it, will you?"

Rhode paled and took a step back, assuming a defensive posture against the seemingly good-natured guy standing over us.

Wait…what did he say?

Hazel leaned over and whispered to Nico, "This is so weird. He's completely honest and good-natured."

I frowned. "What do you mean by change her ways? What did she do during her first life?"

Deucalion raised an eyebrow and smiled dryly. "That is not my place to tell you, now is it, Percy Jackson? You will find your answer sooner or later. I think you'll be yourself by then."

He looked at me meaningfully after he finished the last sentence.

Thalia, on the other hand, didn't understand. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at him; when he met her eyes, her cheeks turned a little red. "Weren't you the one who helped your father out when the eagle swooped down every day to eat his liver?"

He visibly winced at the reference, but he nodded. "Yes, ma'am, I couldn't let my father suffer like that when I had the opportunity to help him."

She nodded. "That was very brave of you, even as a child…you were the one with the flood, right? The one who rode the kivotos?"

I frowned. "Flood? Kivanna? Who's Kivanna?"

Deucalion grinned at me. "You're an entertaining one. Kivotos, in English, is translated to ark, or boat. My name, translated to English, is Noah."

I face-palmed myself. "You've got to be kidding me."

Annabeth laughed in my ear. "I don't even have to say anything anymore, Percy. You feel like a Seaweed Brain by yourself, babe."

Deucalion looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "I have a feeling that you would like to have an early death?"

I uncapped Riptide and got in my stance. "Didn't plan on it, but if you insist…"

He grinned and held out his hand. "Don't worry, I thought you got my joke. I meant that I have a feeling that you would like to find a way to the Underworld to visit Hades."

"Oh…" I capped Riptide and looked at him. "Yeah, we need his pitchfork. I assume you already know the threat."

He nodded. "And you are very brave to be going on this quest. I wish you the best of luck. The ride that you seek should be behind Splash Mountain. There, you will find a keeper, and he will challenge you to a harvesting contest. You must kill him to get past. If you can find another way where you can avoid taking a life, the better. If you do not subdue him, he will continue to plague you, and he is a formidable adversary."

I nodded, and Jason coughed. "Who is this keeper?"

Deucalion laughed and smiled. "I am not allowed to tell you that. But I can transport you there."

He waved his hand and I felt my body peacefully disperse into mist and reform in a strange place. I looked behind me and saw my team with me, brushing dirt and water off their clothes. I looked up and saw a huge black and gray rollercoaster track that led into a huge tunnel. I didn't think was a picture booth.

Somehow, it was night, and the full moon was out; however I could still tell that this was in Disneyworld. We had spent so long looking for this and on my powers that we wasted an entire day. An entire day that Helios takes to get stronger and to attach to his host.

Spider-webs hung off the track, and fog blanketed the ground like a stereotypical graveyard in the movies, making the ride look scary as Hades.

The temperature must've dropped like 20 or 30 degrees; Rhode shifted her clothes to a lightweight dark blue jacket with leggings. Thalia didn't need any protection because of her Hunter aura. Nico was used to this kind of weather, and it reinforced that belief when he inhaled. "This is peaceful. I needed this."

Jason maintained a focused and rugged look on his face, but I saw the goosebumps on his arms. Hazel was outright shivering, and I was right with her.

She coughed. "Okay, so can we go now? There's nothing here."

Thalia looked up at the rollercoaster and sighed. "Exactly. That's the point. Shall we go in?"

We jumped when the graveyard gate swung open and crashed into the fence that it was attached to. Jason cleared his throat. "So the gate invites us into the rollercoaster of death. That's cute. Must we always be the dumb ones who go right into the heart of the darkness?"

I uncapped Riptide while keeping my eye on the gate opening. "But where's the fun in that?"

I sensed Jason gave me a strange look as I crept up towards the gate, with everyone else following me. I heard Jason behind me comment, "Annnddddd no one listens to the one person making sense here."

Annabeth said in my ear, "Be careful. You don't know who is here, and how they're going to operate. On your toes. And don't worry about your little water…handicap…"

"It's NOT A HANDICAP!" I snapped at her.

Annabeth sniffed, and I rubbed my temples with my free hand. "I'm sorry, Wise Girl, I've been kind of stressed. Keep your eyes…and your computers open, will you?"

She laughed. "Of course. Watch out for-"

Adrenaline pounded in my ears and I didn't hear her. I crept past the gate and towards the huge rollercoaster. When the whole team was inside the gate and walking towards the rollercoaster, the gate behind us slammed shut and it turned pitch black outside.

Literally, this was darker than black. I turned around and couldn't see anything. "JASON? THALIA? NICO?"

"Percy, stop yelling. You're going to attract the protector to you. That's not good."

I shut myself up and followed Annabeth. I moved in the darkness. Somehow, I could see a straight path to the rollercoaster of about 10 feet wide, but nothing to the sides, up, or behind me.

I realized that this was the path that the protector wanted me to take, so I turned in ran into the darkness.

"Percy! What are you….stop…oh my gods."

Annabeth's voice cut off completely, and I tensed from panic. Where did she go?

I couldn't see anything, and the glow from Riptide was helping anything. Suddenly, a lightning bolt flashed in the sky, illuminating my surroundings for a tenth of a second. I got on my toes and held up Riptide.

I saw two people, one standing up and the other on the ground. Or they were really, _really _short.

I squinted my eyes and lightning flashed again, illuminating my surroundings again. I was ready, though, and caught what I saw. My breath caught in my throat and I had trouble breathing.

I saw Rhode, pale as moonlight, with her ocean blue eyes ripping through me, standing over Jason, who had his neck sliced. Her sword was in her left hand, and it was drenched in ruby-colored blood. She licked the blade passionately, as if it was fruit punch and looked at me.

I looked at Jason's neck. It wasn't sliced off, but a good chunk of his neck was hacked off, and Rhode was doing nothing to stop the bleeding. She looked towards me and took one step towards me.

Then the light shut off and it was darkness again.

I took a step back. "RHODE! RHODE!" I screamed with all my might.

I heard a female scream in the distance; Hazel's scream. Coming from the right.

I yelled her name to the top of my lungs so loud that my throat almost gave out and I sprinted towards the right.

Something with the strength of a brick wall blindsided me and I fell to the ground, disoriented and clutching my head.

I looked up and saw a muscular guy maybe about 25, standing in the middle of the illuminated path that was for me. I was on the ground in front of him, and he wore a black cloak. It flowed like the Grim Reaper, and he had a hood on to increase the likeness. His hair was brown and long, and he had black eyes that looked like they had been stapled into his head and the staples were taken out.

The strangest thing was what he was holding.

A large scythe.

Like Kronos.

It was long and black, with a Greek grip, but the blade was bloody.

He gritted his teeth and spoke in a raspy voice as if he'd been yelling too much and lost his voice. "Perseus. Your head will look good in my collection."

And swung the scythe downwards with incredible speed, looking to cleave me in half. I rolled to the left and popped up athletically. He predicted my move and kicked me in the chest so that I fell back to the ground.

He was keeping me on the defensive. I threw Riptide at him, clanging off his chest Kronos-style. It disoriented him (Kronos style again) and I took the opportunity to stand up and stay balanced.

His cloak seemed to flap like wings behind him when he attacked me smoothly, silently. I held out my hand and Riptide flew to my hand so I could parry his strike. The impact shaved my shirt right off, and he sliced my chest with a deep gash. Blood poured out and I fell to the ground, clutching where I got injured.

He kicked me in the face, snapping my upper torso back so I collapsed on the ground. He held out his hand and blasted me with blinding sunlight energy…no doubt blessed by Helios.

He turned off the energy, and pulled me up. I attacked him, but he dodged and tripped me easily. He advanced mercilessly, kicking me in the chest and stabbing me in the face with the butt of his scythe. "Disgusting. I thought you to be a worthy adversary. Helios was wrong."

I gritted my teeth. This _was _the protector. But I had to keep him talking. "What did you do with the others?"

He slowed down. "Their heads are hanging on my wall."

"Damn lie."

"What did you say?"

I leapt up in a three quarter back flip and kicked him in the chest. As expected, he recovered quickly and rose his arms with the scythe in his hand to get ready to slice me into diced seaweed.

I held out my hand and Riptide flew to it, and I stabbed him in his exposed spot; his torso.

Ichor flowed from his wounds, and he yelled in pure agony, dissolving into dust and leaving his cloak and scythe with him. Deucalion was right.

I stood up shakily, breathing heavily. I looked around and saw that I could see again; my teammates were leaning against trees, some standing, others leaning against them, wrapping their wounds and standing over empty cloaks and scythes, like I was.

I sprinted over to Rhode, to see her with a gash on her side, and not anything like the girl that I saw in the night time. Maybe it was just an illusion or whatever.

She looked up at me, and I grabbed her hand. She was fading in and out, and I looked her in the eye. "Hey, sis. Look at you, what happened?"

She looked dead in my eye, but she had a weakening look to her. "He attacked me. The protector. Sliced a gash in my side. Apparently, he got you too. Nice abs."

I realized I was shirtless, and I kissed her on the cheek for support. I hustled over to Thalia, who was already up and ready to go. Her wounds had healed, and she looked at mine, making a face. "Ouch, Jackson, he must've not liked you at all. He found a way to multiply himself so he could try to kill all of us."

I sighed in exhaustion. The fight took something out of me. "Apparently."

She raised an eyebrow at me as I looked at Jason's injury; it was identical to the one he had in my vision. Thalia was using her healing powers and a couple squares of ambrosia to fix the wound. "Your water powers still didn't work?"

I shook my head dejectedly. Thalia smirked, then slapped me.

Ouch.

I grabbed my cheek, and whipped my head towards her. "What in Hades was that for?"

She grinned. "Didn't you hear what Chiron said when you asked what was so special about being a demigod? He said that it's being part god, but part human. So if one of those identities fall out, you're still Percy Jackson. Think about it."

A couple minutes later, we were all on our feet, with bandages and crudely fashioned crutches. Jason rubbed his head as Nico threw up on the side. Hazel sighed. She was the only one who wasn't attacked, and she handed me the ambrosia and rubbed some healing lotion on my chest.

I ate the square, as Hazel was concentrating on the chest. She winced when she ran her finger through it, then looked up at me. "Are you sure you're ready to go on a rollercoaster ride?"

I grinned, and some pink rushed to her cheeks as she looked behind her quickly. "I would be ready for a rollercoaster if I was dying. No pun intended."

She laughed as the group laughed. We sobered up though…it was nervous laughter anyway.

Nico led us over to the rollercoaster, and we took our seats; Rhode next to me, Jason next to his sister, Nico next to Hazel. The children of the Big Three.

Thalia looked at Jason from in front of us. "Jason, you ready?"

He nodded, and they both put their hands on opposite sides of the ride, shocking it with their electricity. The ride turned on, and Charon's automated emotionless voice turned on. "Keep your hands and feet in the rollercoaster, or else you will meet an early death and a meeting with an angry Hades. Be sure to file a complaint if there are any safety issues."

Seatbelts flashed and constricted us to the seats. Charon's voice laughed cruelly, as if he knew this ride was going to be torture. "Have a nice ride."

And the rollercoaster shot off into the darkness, and we dropped straight down into Hades.


	17. Chapter 17

**Percy POV**

The ride was awesome. Despite our near death experience with the wannabe Grim Reaper, I really had fun on the rollercoaster; the drop was straight down like 200 feet, and we must've been going like 88 miles per hour at one point. Strange noises pierced through the darkness, and it was freezing. Do you know how when you're dropping on a rollercoaster and the wind attacks your face? Well, this wind was attacking our faces in the same way, except it was much harder and it was about negative 30 degrees Celsius wind attacking our face.

Rhode was holding my hand and grasping it tightly; Thalia's Huntress aura allowed me to see her paled face as we were dropping. She was holding on to Jason. Nico was filing his nails as Hazel was throwing her hands back and screaming.

I grinned. Ever since Hazel and Frank had been together, she's seemed to be much happier and calmer. She was more confident of herself, and when she decided to stay at Camp Half-Blood to keep Nico company, no one complained. She was fun to be around.

I yelled up to the front, "HAZEL! KEEP YOUR HANDS AND FEET IN THE COASTER!"

Hazel turned around and gave me a thumbs up, putting her hands in her lap.

As we plunged into the darkness towards Hades, and Jason screamed, "JUMP! ON MY COUNT!"

I yelled towards the front, "WHAT?"

Jason turned around the best he could. "I SAID, JUMP!"

Rhode leaned forward. "JUMP? DOWN THERE?"

Thalia punched Jason in the shoulder, but Jason justified his answer well. "THEY SAID…TO KEEP YOUR HANDS AND FEET IN THE COASTER, UNLESS YOU WANT TO HAVE A MEETING WITH PLUTO! WE NEED TO GET TO PLUTO AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! SO WE NEED TO DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE AND JUMP OUT. THIS RIDE IS DESIGNED FOR CHILDREN WHO DIE DURING ACCIDENTS IN AMUSEMENT PARKS! IT'S PROBABLY SO OLD BECAUSE DISNEYWORLD HAS BEEN REDESIGNED TO KEEP CHILDREN SAFE ON RIDES."

I hated the fact that he made sense. I looked over the side of the coaster and saw just blackness. I thought of Charon's voice, and I realized that we had no money with us.

"ALRIGHT, EVERYONE JUMP ON THREE!"

Nico turned around. "WHAT?!"

Hazel screamed, "JUMP ON THREE!"

I took a breath. "ONE!"

Rhode's hand tightened on mine, and she put her hand on my leg for support. Or maybe it wasn't actually support…

Jason looked over the side also. "TWO!"

Thalia grabbed Jason's arm. "ALL OF US SHOULD FIND EACH OTHER'S HAND SO IF WE'RE WRONG, WE CAN BE TOGETHER, AT LEAST!"

Hazel coughed. "IF? IF WE'RE WRONG?!"

Both Jason and I yelled, "THREE!"

And all six of us sliced the seatbelts in half with our weapons and jumped off the side of the coaster. The wind and the air was even colder outside the rollercoaster, and each person fell while holding their sibling's hand. My hair whipped back behind me, giving me extra vision.

I looked and saw Thalia closest to me. Thalia found my gaze and nodded, and directed the cold wind so that it pushed me and Rhode closer to her. I grabbed onto Thalia's hand, and we shifted our weight in the air so that Rhode could swing and catch Nico's wrist. Hazel locked hands with Jason, and I could've sworn I saw Jason sigh and Hazel close her eyes. No doubt it had to do with that dare that Leo made.

Suddenly, we all fell right onto a carpeted floor, but underneath the carpet must've been concrete. Luckily, most people fell on their butt, but I wasn't so lucky. I landed more on my ankle, and twisted it badly. I tried to get up, but fell right back down in defeat. Pain shot up my ankle as if telling me, _Hey, dummy! You should've waited until the rollercoaster was done! _

Thalia and Jason got up shakily, with Hazel still grasping his hand tightly. She let go quickly, and helped her brother up. Rhode was on the floor with me, and got to her knees. She looked at me and my ankle, as I was clutching it in pain.

She had me sit up and she embraced me from behind. "Thank you, Perseus. I owe you my life again."

I sighed in pain and frustration. "Don't make…a…aghhhh….habit out of it."

She reached from behind me and stroked my…area, then moved down to the leg that was injured. I jumped in fear, but she beckoned me to stay quiet. She moved to the leg and blew on my neck. I couldn't necessarily stop her because I had a broken ankle. Suddenly, I felt my twisted ankle turn into liquid in my body, and I saw my ankle bubbling and shifting. It shifted to the right place, and Rhode kissed my neck, and my ankle became solid again…except it was in the right place.

I stood up carefully, and realized that Rhode had healed me. The group was in a huge black and gray room with spider webs in the corner. Torches stood with blue and black fire burning in them and skeletons moved all around, some with food, others with laundry, others pulling people away to the prisons of Hades, and others gossiping in their skeletal language. We were facing a huge brown and black door that looked ancient Greek. Two huge zombie animals were on a leash, but were crouching at the front door, ready to pounce and intimidate any dead soul that walked through the doors.

I shook Rhode off and put a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks."

She looked at me with meaning in her eyes. "I still owe you one favor, do I not?"

The time in the cave flashed in my memory, and I took a step back. I had to remember that this was a daughter of Aphrodite. The goddess of love and sex herself told me that Rhode could charmspeak just as well as she could, and she had my father's powers. It was very disorienting. But even in Hades, her skin turned pale as if she was in the ice in the ocean again, but she still looked…like a goddess of beauty.

"Uh, you don't have to do that?" She raised an eyebrow at my response.

I awkwardly moved away as I touched my earpiece. "Annabeth, you still there?"

I could hear static in my ear, but I made out a small voice, "Trying to override this compute setting, your journey to the Underworld completely disrupted my signal. I can barely see anything. Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

I sighed in relief to hear her voice…it gave me new strength. "Thank the gods you're here. I'm fine. And of course I'm okay. Rhode kind of healed me. And plus I couldn't get hurt because the fireworks are taking place and I wanted to take you."

I thought I heard a laugh, but then I heard Jason and Thalia struggling to get up, then helping Hazel and Nico get situated.

Jason got up and rubbed his head. "What happened to that reaping contest that we were supposed to do?"

I shrugged. "Maybe the contest was him against himself to see how many souls he could reap?"

Jason scoffed like the Roman he is, and I couldn't help but admit that the rollercoaster thing was a good idea. I don't necessarily _like _him, because I don't necessarily trust him. The feeling is mutual for him, but you won't find any two people who respect each other more than we do to each other. I was about to congratulate him, but I heard the unmistakable gravelly and silky voice behind me.

"You must be truly desperate…"

I then realized that we were facing the wrong way in the throne room of the god of the Underworld. I turned around, and the team followed my lead until we faced a huge black throne surrounded by moving skeletons. There were women in black cloaks bowing to him and dancing some weird routine that looked like they were singing his praises. But he doesn't have any praises.

The man sitting lazily on the throne was the second man in the robe that was in my dream. The guy that used to be sarcastic, funny, good-natured, and tanned. But now, he was pale as I remembered him, with the same robe that I let go into the River Styx to free those souls. Screaming faces of pure agony that were cursed to forever be Hades' clothing. That's so weird.

His hair was long and wet, and it looked like he recently shaved. He held his pitchfork in his hand, and a Fury held his helm above his head as if she was going to crown him with it, but she held it in place. I remember when I retrieved the helm, and I wondered if I would have to use that time as leverage for this time.

Jason stood up and dusted himself off. "Pluto."

The god of the underworld shimmered until he was a more tanned, but cruel looking god, then changed back.

Hades finished his statement. "-to come to me for help. Especially you, Jackson."

I gritted my teeth. "Take a picture so you won't miss me too much when I'm gone."

Hades was about to reply, when he looked at Rhode and blinked for the first time. He sat back in his throne in interest, and stood. "You."

Rhode scared me when she yelled at the top of her lungs, "YOU! MONSTER! ROT IN TARTARUS!"

She began to speak in ancient Greek as she unsheathed her sword and flew at him at blinding speed. The Fury came to intercept her, but she sliced right through the monster. Hades' helm of darkness fell Hades' lap as he sighed. She attacked him, but he sank right through his robes and rematerialized behind her. She roundhouse kicked him, and Hades fell to the floor of his throne room. She leapt up in the air, and raised her sword up to slice him in half.

He raised his hand and his pitchfork flew to his hand, morphing into a sword on the way to him. He caught his weapon, now a five foot sword. He parried her attack and kicked her in the leg. Rhode grimaced, then shot a water funnel towards him. He held his arm out and the helm of darkness flew to him. He turned invisible and avoided the funnel. Rhode sliced through empty air, but Hades now had the advantage. He materialized behind her again, but this time, Rhode didn't expect it. He carried Rhode by the collar of her shirt and threw her back down to where we were. He grabbed his pitchfork and casually shot a blast of gray-ish death energy towards her to finish her off. "Heathen."

Nico stepped in front of her and intercepted the blast with his blade. "Father, stop!"

He gritted his teeth and seethed. I noticed that neither Persephone nor Demeter was down here with him. That was strange.

Rhode banged the ground in anger and the whole throne room reverberated with the impact.

Nico moved to the front of the group. "Father, we need that pitchfork."

Hades looked at his son with no love in his eyes. "Oh, do you? That's nice. I know all about your little quest. It's interesting because…you'll never stop Helios. He will come to this plane of existence. And he's going to use one of your friends as a stepping stone."

My throat constricted. "Friends like who?"

His eyes flashed towards me. "Oh, you know him, Jackson. It's going to be fun to see your reaction on your face when you realize who this stepping stone is and what this one's-"

He beckoned towards Rhode. "-destiny is."

Anger coursed through my veins as if I was speaking to Ares. "You cursed her! How is she supposed to react?!"

He raised an eyebrow and I immediately realized I said too much. "What did you say, Jackson?"

I sighed. "Look, I saw you when you were younger. When Zeus and my father lied to you and you got stuck with this domain, I get it. We need your pitchfork for the Spear of Triam. It will save Helios from destroying the earth. I know you would want that so Hades could be completely full and the gods would suffer, but how long can you keep a sibling grudge for?"

He stood and materialized in front of me. He towered over me by maybe two, three inches. "I've kept a grudge for three thousand years, what difference would it make now?"

I realized that he was trying to intimidate me, but it's kind of hard to intimidate someone if you smell like wet, dead leaves.

Hazel spoke up. "Father, we _need _the spear. Didn't Percy help you find your helm of Darkness when it was stolen? You owe him, do you not?"

He sighed and rubbed his temples. "It's not that simple, Bianca. That pitchfork and the helm together are the sources of my power and if I don't have one of them in my possession-"

He stopped himself when he called her Bianca. Nico and Hazel stopped and looked at their father. Hazel put her hands on her hips condescendingly. "No, father. That was your OTHER daughter. Nico's sister. Not I. My _mother _named me Hazel."

He cleared his throat awkwardly, and looked for a long time at Hazel. He tore his gaze reluctantly and stared Rhode down as he held his hand behind him for a second. The pitchfork flew to his hand, and he tossed it to me. I instantly caught it, but it was heavier than it should've been.

I almost sank to the ground with it, and Hades looked at me. "Your powers will come back soon, Jackson. But until then, try to stay alive without them, will you?"

I looked at him in pure confusion. Why is he helping us all of a sudden? "Just like that? No attacking, no threats, no kidnapping of people's mothers, nothing?"

He cleared his throat again and looked at the ancient Greek drawings on the door. "Not this time, Jackson. You kind of opened my eyes to the past-"

His form shifted to the same proud, funny, good-natured, tanned skin guy that was in my dreams, but he shifted back to his depressing self. "-and I realized that it wasn't all that bad. And plus-"

He looked at Nico and Hazel, who were holding hands protectively. "-I have a family to worry about. But the next time that you come to my palace unannounced with one of your little schemes of yours, just know that I will kill you, Annabeth Chase, and your mother."

I uncapped Riptide and glared at him as he smiled sarcastically. "The only demigod who can make me smile. Disgusting. But is that threat good enough for you?"

"Exceeded my expectations," I grumbled. I shook the pitchfork and it compacted into a black fork. I stuffed it in my pocket and turned to the group. "Shall we go?"

Rhode glared at Hades and tried to attack him again, but Jason and I were on it. We held her back and Thalia took the pouch with the tears out of my backpack. She wiped her hands on her pants and gave us all a small diamond. I still felt bad, but I spit on the diamond, creating another perfect sphere of liquid.

Hades raised an eyebrow. "No one knows where they're going with those tears?"

I blushed. No one _did _know where we were going, but we already had the tears in our hands. We couldn't avoid to waste tears by wiping them on our pants to get the map.

Rhode, however, shot back, "We know where we're going, tyrant. You can go back to ruling the dead now."

I couldn't believe how long gods could keep grudges between each other. Hades smirked. "Guadalupe Mountains in Texas. That is where my brother's master bolt is being purified. You insist that you weren't the Lightning Thief, well that's your job now. Find the mountains, get past the Cyclops, and steal the bolt. Sneak out, and be on your way. Oh, and bring some water."

He looked at me. "Things are going to heat up down there."

I gave him one last nod before I brought the tear to my eye. "Persephone would be proud. So would Nico's mom."

Black fire roared in his eyes as I turned to the team. I nodded at them. The team nodded back, and Nico and Hazel watched their father the whole time as we put the tears in our eyes. I thought, _Guadalupe Mountains in Texas. _

The same wind blew in my eye, making it water. I suddenly wished that I bought a cowboy hat from Disneyworld.


	18. Chapter 18

**Percy POV**

Salt Flat, Texas.

One of the hottest places I have ever been to in my life.

I literally had problems breathing from all the heat. There was literally no humidity in the air, so if my powers miraculously came back and I wanted to make some kind of water to cool ourselves, there would be no way to; I would literally pass out from the effort of bringing hydrogen and oxygen together in the air in the correct molecular bonding sequence to create a drop of water. Everyone was drenched with sweat, and we all had no water. If I had to carry the pitchfork the whole way, I would've died. But it had transformed into a regular size fork that I had safely tucked into my backpack. Nico claimed that if I tapped it on the ground, the riches in the earth would cue it to spring to full size.

We had been transported to one of the lowest levels of the mountain, meaning that there was going to be a whole bunch of climbing for us. Wonderful.

I looked out in front of me; clouds covered almost 70 percent of the sky, but it was still one of the hottest days of the year since the sun was bearing down on us as if saying, _I will be the cause of your death soon. But meanwhile, have the next worst thing; sunburn! _

Thorny bushes were few and far between in the ten miles that we had to travel to the foot of the mountain. Little shrubs of grass were scattered abundantly throughout the entire grassland, and what wasn't covered with grass was dry dirt that felt like death. It was a steep incline until you got to the foot of the mountain. The top of the mountain rose triumphantly towards the sky, and it was _huge_; I could almost see the Cyclopes working on the bolt here.

But what did Hades mean when he said that things were going to heat up? I could hardly think that he believed that it was going to get hotter in temperature.

I looked behind me to see Rhode come up next to me; I could smell her perfume that was like a sea breeze. Somehow, she managed to look completely cool as the sun beamed down on her, casting a luminary outline that once again made her look something more than human. The sun shone behind her (see story cover picture) and she reached her hand back to let her hair down. "We need to get to the top of those mountains, do we not? We will be fine; we have you, don't we?"

I coughed. "Um, yeah, sure. I'm not all that you probably think I am though."

I looked back at the mountain, our destination. In the middle of the incline towards the mountain, but about twenty miles away from our straight line of vision, to the left was a Greek word that was carved into the mountain; Κύκλωψ.

"Cyclopes," Annabeth translated into our earpieces. I jumped because she hadn't spoken for so long. She continued, "The mountain has Cyclopes working on the bolt inside…if that's what you're looking for. You went completely MIA in the Underworld, so what happened? Did you get the pitchfork?"

Thalia laughed. "Hades got a little carried away with his temper and attacked Rhode. She must've used the wrong perfume today."

Rhode whipped her head towards Thalia and unsheathed her sword. It glinted in the sun, and her reflection was mirrored. "You want to repeat that lie so I can cut out your tongue, Grace?"

Humidity grew in the air, and I realized that Rhode is more powerful than I had imagined. I started to put everything together. Her being the first born child of Poseidon…she received…the entirety of his inheritance (power-wise). So if she spent a long enough time somewhere, it would actually start storming. If she got angry, it would start raining right then and there. She has complete mastery over water, so much so that she can't feel extreme heat or coolness. And she just might be the reason why my powers are canceling out; she is at full strength since she was defrosted.

As I was having my Einstein moment, Thalia grinned maliciously and Aegis spiraled out, along with her sword. "Come on, Barbie."

Jason stood in front of them. "Ladies…"

Rhode turned around and kicked Jason in the throat, sending him twenty feet and to the ground. Nico ran to help him up while Hazel turned towards Rhode. "You know what, I've had about enough of you and your damn anger issues."

Rhode waved her off with her sword, still staring at Thalia. Ozone started to crackle. Thalia was mad about what just happened with Jason.

I saw out the corner of my eye, Jason get up with Nico's help and for a second, I thought I saw lightning flash in his eyes. "What is it with you and kicking me?"

I actually felt like punching something…or someone really hard. I started to walk towards Jason…

Suddenly, Rhode and Thalia both doubled over, clutching their ears. The piercing noise erupted in all our ears, forcing us to one knee. I heard Annabeth, "Good. It got audio pain to get your attention? Calm down now, children. This is not that serious. We need to find this bolt so we can stop Helios. Now. So…someone pray to their godly parent for some transportation, because it's going to be a hike up there. Percy, look in your pack; the Yankees hat is in your bag in case you actually need to be the lightning thief this time. Concentrate; Nico will help you. Rhode, control yourself. Jason, you have better judgment than that. Thalia, what would Artemis think? You're letting these _men _cramp your style and get you involved in petty arguments. Hazel, calm down. You're doing amazing."

I smirked. "It's not a good sign that you and Hades think alike."

A quick piercing sound erupted in my ear. "I _am _going to go deaf dealing with this."

Thalia coughed. "It's only because she reminds me so much of Percy that she irritates me to the ends of the earth."

I felt Annabeth in my head; she was thinking back to when she had looked at me and decided, _"Percy, you and Thalia are so much alike that you two would either be best friends or worst enemies."_

"_Let's go with best friends." _

And I was right. Now, I'm thinking that Rhode and Thalia were leaning towards the latter of the two.

Rhode yelled with some unexpected amount of testosterone and ripped off her earpiece, throwing it to the ground and destroying it with the sword that I had given her. "Stupid blonde."

Anger suddenly rose inside of me and I uncapped Riptide. "You want to say something like that again?"

Rhode froze up, and her throat constricted. She looked at me with fear as I moved towards her with Riptide. Waves roared in my ear. Annabeth muttered in my head, _"Calm down. I'm a big girl. I can handle myself. Thank you, though." _

I stopped my progress and breathed heavily. I nodded reluctantly to Annabeth's soothing tone, and she whispered in my head, _"Good boy. Mommy's going to give you a big kiss when you get home." _

I grinned and apologized quickly to Rhode. She nodded, still scared by my bipolar behavior.

Jason and Thalia come up next to me. Jason came up on my left while Thalia squeezed herself in between Rhode and I. She huffed in irritation as Thalia started, "Now that we're all calm, this is a nice place though, huh? Kind of warm, don't you think?"

Nico was already scouring the area. Hazel had her iPhone out and taking pictures. Thalia snatched the phone away from her. "You _do _realize that we don't _enjoy _fighting monsters, right? So put the phone away. It sends out a signal. And what do you think is the reason why all of us went completely berserk just now?"

Annabeth said in the earpiece, "Power fluctuation."

"Your signal wasn't the only thing that led me to you."

The voice was annoying, like a little elf who majored in mischief and minored in pranks. It had a slight nasally pitch to it, but I could sense power from the statement.

As one unit, everyone got out their weapons and stood in a perfect hexagon facing different directions. I yelled, "Everybody on your toes. Look to who this is."

The voice sounded again, "Oh, but I'm invisible. And how can you hit someone-"

A creature materialized in front of me, a regular cute little human child of maybe about six, but with huge elf ears and wearing a one-piece green pajama outfit. It matched his bright green eyes; they reminded me of Rachel's bright, intelligent eyes.

"-you can't touch?"

Annabeth immediately classified. "A _Kobalos_. Nothing to be afraid of. Actually, you do need to be afraid. They have a specialty of scaring people and shapeshifting. They get into your mind and pick our your deepest fears. Usually companions of Dionysus. Keep your mind sharp and don't look directly at him, and he can't-"

The _kobalos _grinned at us. "Hi."

Suddenly, Thalia doubled over, screaming and clawing at the air. "MOM! MOM! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

She ducked away from the creature and banged her head against the ground; her weapon clanged away from her. It reminded me of the insanity that I saw in the purple fire in Dionysus' eyes when he let me go try and save Annabeth from Atlas.

I looked somewhat at the creature and pulled Riptide. "Stop it! Now!"

Jason suddenly went to the ground, clutching his head. "MOM! DON'T LEAVE ME! MOM! YOU DON'T LOVE ME! I'M SORRY!"

He sliced at the air with his weapon, tears streaming down his face. I had no idea what he was seeing, but I've never seen him at a point of such weakness. The _kobalos _just grinned, looking at him. "The big tough guy. Not so tough now."

He turned his gaze upon Nico, who gasped in covered his face as if trying to protect himself from something. "NO, FATHER! NO! BIANCA!"

He fell to the ground also, as the _kobalos _spit towards him. "Pathetic son of Hades."

Nico went rigid as if he was getting hit, and fell to the ground unconscious. Hazel unsheathed her knife, but _her _eyes went wide and she slashed at the air wildly, as if trying to destroy some Stymphalian birds that were around her. I stood helplessly around my team, looking to see someone who wasn't affected.

Rhode had her sword unsheathed, and materialized next to me. "Let us get him, shall we? Do not look at him directly, or-"

The _kobalos _teleported in front of her and her eyes went wide. She dropped the sword and she backed away. "No…not you two….GET AWAY FROM ME! YOU RUINED MY LIFE! I DO NOT CARE IF YOU ARE GODS! YOU ARE NOT THE GODS OF MY LIFE!"

I sincerely hope she wasn't talking about Poseidon and Aphrodite. I turned to my sword to try to use a reflection, but I heard a _bamf _sound, and someone floating in front of me. He pulled away the sword from my face, and he grinned at me. "Hi. I've heard so much about you," he said in a six-year old voice. "The amazing Percy Jackson. How cute."

Suddenly, I was looking at Beckendorf, and my heart caught in my chest. I looked away when Silena materialized next to him. They looked at me mournfully. "Why would you let us die, Percy? Why would you let us die? It's your fault. It's your fault!"

They said that simultaneously, but Beckendorf only spoke now. "I said for you to go. And you ran, like a little coward," he stepped towards me aggressively. "And now, I'm in Hades, and I can't see my girlfriend that I was going to marry because she _chose another life!" _

I gasped and fell to one knee. Then, I saw Annabeth, with Ethan's knife through her. She looked at me. "You didn't even tell me how you felt about me. I could've died right then and there! COWARD!"

And Annabeth fell to the ground and her body turned deathly white; dead. I stood, frozen in the spot, as my mind took me back to when it happened. A tear fell down my face.

Suddenly I was looking at Bianca, climbing in mid air…but somehow I knew that she was climbing into the automaton in the junkyard of the gods. To sacrifice herself.

Then, I saw myself falling into Tartarus, and I knew that I was going to die from the panic factor in my body. I couldn't even hear Annabeth.

Suddenly, a sword pierced through the entire view, and I came back to reality. Salt Flat, Texas. The Guadalupe Mountains.

The _kobalos _looked down and saw a sword penetrating through his abdomen. He started crying like a six-year old, then his face twisted into one of anger. His voice turned a thousand years old, deep and angry. "NOT AGAIN! I WILL FIND YOU AND KILL YOU SLOWLY!" He turned into a dragon, then a lion, then dissipated into mist.

There, standing there, was a sandy-haired boy.

Luke.

Not Luke. A person who looked just like Luke, except he looked about 16. There was no scar. He had sandy blonde hair, with bright blue eyes. He had a confident smile, and he was a little shorter than me, but much more muscular. His eyes twinkled as he grinned at me. His shoes looked built for speed, the new black Nike track shoes…except they had wings on the sides. They were still beating, but slowing down as if he just stopped. He twirled his sword in the air. "Man, I missed doing that. It took me a month to find him."

My group members regrouped, wiping off their tears and standing around me. They helped each other up, while Rhode sobbed again. Annabeth was saying something, but I looked at the guy. "Thanks, man. Who are you?"

He smiled sadly, as if recalling a fond memory. "It's an honor to meet you again."

The team was fine now. Thalia coughed. "Who are you?"

"Andy Quick. Son of Hermes."

Annabeth coughed. "No way. He looks just like him."

By him, I knew she meant Luke.

He looked at me meaningfully, and raised his sword weakly. "For Kronos!"

Thalia gasped and blasted him with a bolt of lightning off of impulse, but my recognition was quicker than her blast. I parried the blast without looking behind me with Riptide, and looked at him.

"_If you want to live, get off this boat now. Tell the other demigods." _

"You're…the kid on the boat…"

He grinned. "The _Princess Andromeda. _Yeah. I did get off the boat. I was the only one, however. But luckily, my father blessed me with these winged shoes. They update every week."

Nico whistled as if he was looking at a new Mythomagic figure. "Cool."

He laughed, a nice sound. "But yeah. I saw you, and you saved my life. And now, it's about time I repaid the favor."

He held his hand out and I shook it, and he pulled me into a hug. "I have to be going now. Who knows where that little elf is now. I hunt him down for the rest of my lifetime. It's my calling."

I nodded in understanding. Sometimes a demigod's calling is not always being someone who saves the world. He nodded at me reverently, then at everyone else. "Try to get those fears under control. I know they're ghosts, but even still. Try to make some kind of peace with them, or they will override you again. And Percy,"

He looked at me. "Your next threat is at the bottom of the mountain. The one with the _pithos." _

Annabeth and I said it at the same time. "Pandora…"

He nodded. "Get your mind and body ready."

He saluted to us as he flew off into the sky with amazing speed.

Nico whistled. "I have to get me a pair of those."


	19. Chapter 19

**Percy POV**

We watched him as he flew off, and he complained loudly, "AW MAN! HE'S IN DELAWARE NOW!"

He flew off into the sunlight as I thought about what had happened that particular day where the two of us "met".

_As I was running up the stairwell, a kid charged down.__He looked like he'd just woken up from a nap. His armor was half on. He drew his sword and yelled, "Kronos!" but he sounded more scared than angry. He couldn't have been more than twelve-about the same age I was when I'd first arrived at Camp Half-Blood. That thought depressed me. This kid was getting brain-washed-trained to hate the gods and lash out because he'd been born half Olympian. Kronos was using him, and yet the kid thought I was his enemy. _

_No way was I going to hurt him. I didn't need a weapon for this. I stepped inside his strike and grabbed his wrist, slamming it against the wall. His sword clattered out of his hand.____Then I did something I hadn't planned on. It was probably stupid. It definitely jeopardized our mission, but I couldn't help it._

_"__If__you want to live," I told him, "get off this ship now. Tell the other demigods." Then I shoved him down the stairs and sent him tumbling to the next door._

_I kept climbing._

Thalia raised an eyebrow at the cloudy sky. "Who was that?"

I thought about Beckendorf immediately, and closed my eyes in remembrance. Nico coughed. "You do know that Beckendorf and Silena are reunited in the Underworld, right? So they're happy. It was their time."

I looked at Nico and nodded slowly. "Thanks, man. That was a kid. A kid that was on the _Princess Andromeda _who was brainwashed by Kronos. He was probably brainwashed by his insane half-brother, Luke."

Everyone stiffened at the mention of the name, even Jason and Hazel. They had heard some bad and scary things about the dude, and now they could barely believe their ears. Jason raised his eyebrows. "This Luke Castellan dude brought _kids _into the fight against Kronos?"

Rhode leaned forward. "Kronos?" New interest found her face.

Hazel looked at her. "Long story short-"

I cut her off. "No, we got time. It's going to be a long walk, anyway."

We all sighed and started walking as I was talking. "Luke Castellan, Rhode, was a former friend. He was one of the counselors at Camp Half-Blood, like Annabeth and I are now. Son of Hermes. He taught me how to properly swordfight, and had my back throughout my whole first year in the camp…until he tried to kill me with a poisonous scorpion."

Rhode looked at me with sad eyes, while everyone found new interest in the ground. Annabeth stayed silent. I took a breath and continued. "He was so paranoid and bitter over the lack of attention that the gods showed him that he was coaxed by the voice of Kronos. He was convinced and pushed to the brink of his sanity and mental capacity to go and bathe in the River Styx. He became invulnerable so he could survive the process."

Rhode asked, "The process of what?"

I looked at her. "The process of the bonding of a half-blood."

The wind blew in between the six of us like reeds. She looked at me with fear in her eyes, "Bonding of what to a half-blood…?"

I clenched my jaw. "A Titan to a half-blood. Kronos took over his body, but Luke did it willingly. He piloted the boat called the _Princess Andromeda _and there were everyone from brainwashed people to monsters to the Titan himself. One of the brainwashed people was a twelve-year old kid. He came up to attack me, but barely knew anything about fighting. He looked like Luke had picked him up out of his bed and told him to fight for Kronos. The little kid attacked me, and I disarmed him in one quick stroke. I should've knocked him out, according to the mission plan, so he could die with the ship, but I let him go and told him to get off the ship if he wanted to live. And to tell the other demigods."

Rhode nodded slowly in understanding. Jason and Hazel looked straight ahead, but their nerves in their head were pulsing, so they were listening and thinking about it. I could only get a feeling out of my girlfriend; Annabeth was brooding in my head about the whole topic.

"I thought it was stupid. Could've jeopardized the entire mission. But apparently, it worked out for us now. I had no idea that he was a child of Hermes, and he was assigned to hunt down that _kobalos _for the rest of his lifetime. But it looks like he has fun with it, and I don't necessarily think he's alone in his quest. But apparently, the _kobalos _is in Delaware, so he has to fly there before the creature terrorizes everyone else."

I looked at everyone. "But that reminds me, what did all of you see?"

Everyone shuffled nervously, as Nico suggested that I go first.

I hesitated. "You know what, let's just keep it to ourselves. We should listen to Andy, though, and try to get rid of those fears and insecurities. Jason and Thalia, you two, along with I, are used to being victorious in battle, and look how us three were defeated without us swinging a sword. Nico, look at how you were able to get past the one demon in the Underworld who did something similar, but still fell to the _kobalos. _Hazel, I know you're strong mentally, but look where that got you."

Everyone nodded, but Jason sighed and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "It seems like if Andy was such on our side, why wouldn't he give us some way to get there quicker?"

Hazel laughed gleefully as sounds of surprise and awe came from the group. Nico grinned. "Um, Jason?"

He looked up at Nico. Nico gestured downward. "Look at your shoes."

Jason looked down to see that all of us had sprouted wings on our shoes. I looked at Jason and grinned. "He didn't help us now, did he?"

Jason blushed a little. "Okay, okay, you're right. I'm sorry, Andy."

I jumped up and clicked my heels, sprouting the wings to life. They painfully reminded me of the shoes that Luke gave me that tried to drag me to my death. The group members followed my lead, and we took off straight towards the mountain. The wind whistled in our faces, and the dust sometimes got in my eyes, forcing me to slow down. At one point, I had to stop.

I clicked my heels and went to the ground, as the group turned around and stopped with me. Hazel landed on the ground, her pigtails flying in the wind. I could tell that she missed Frank by her body posture; one of the few things that Lupa taught me.

"Come on, Leader. Are you okay?"

I nodded, and stood up. "We have to get a plan for Pandora, though."

Thalia nodded. "Each one of Helios' minions have tested us mentally. Pandora is the first woman, the greatest of all the tempters. She is the one who let out the sins into the world, and does not regret it at all. She will tempt us to turn around and quit, then kill ourselves."

I looked at Thalia as Rhode nodded. "We should get to the mountain as quick as possible, but this woman Pandora is going to slow us down."

Jason grinned. "Why don't we just ignore her?"

Nico smiled. "Nice."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "As if ignoring the first woman ever on the earth who is one of the most evil and tempting souls I've ever heard of is going to work."

Hazel made a _not bad _face. "Maybe Jason has a point. If she's the first woman, shouldn't she act more like a girly and needy woman than anyone else on the planet? She needed attention that bad that she doomed all of humanity. She _invented _being a woman. _No _woman wants to be ignored."

Annabeth laughed in the earpiece. "That's actually a good idea. Percy, you should do well with this. Ignoring women that are interested in you."

Everyone laughed, while my cheeks turned hot. Rhode stopped laughing first and smiled at me brilliantly. I thought I was going to go blind looking at her smile.

I shook my head. "Look, so we have our plan?"

Rhode shook her head. "No, but she will say anything to get us to talk back to her. I know this from the ancient stories. She will do, and say anything, and as soon as you talk to her and give her that satisfaction, by the time you can say _xiapete, _you would have already slit your wrist."

Thalia glared at her. "Then just ignore her. Simple as that."

Rhode glared back. "She used to have her words be her only weapon. Now she has Helios' blessing…she may be doubly dangerous. Percy knows from the reaper that he faced."

I noticed how she said 'that _he _faced'. I narrowed my eyes at her. "Sure. But just don't look at her. Look, follow me and you'll be fine."

The team consented, and we flew off towards the bottom of the hill. A few minutes later, we saw a woman sitting on the rock with a tight red dress on as if she was going to a sleazy party. She had long, silky brown hair, and a devious look in her eye with a tempting smile. She grinned at us as we clicked our heels and landed on the ground.

We continued to walk towards her as we heard her say, "Hello. Demigods. Doing your parents' work again? How pitiful."

I kept walking, looking straight ahead. She raised an eyebrow out the corner of my eye. "Did you hear me, son of Poseidon? How exactly has your powers been working for you, lately? And how has Poseidon showed his gratitude for you being his favorite son? By bringing a long lost sister into your life. Wonderful. Have you checked in with your mother lately? How she's in danger?"

I sincerely wanted to punch her in the face, but I just clenched my teeth; we were already past the rock that she was sitting on. It was taking my entire strength to keep silent. Her face turned into one of confusion and slight panic.

She materialized about thirty feet in front of us, leaning me on the wall of the mountain. "Pay attention to me! Look at me!"

Jason wisely dug in his ear that was without the earpiece. "This earpiece is blocking my hearing. Do any of you hear anything?"

Nico rubbed his ears. "No, why? Maybe it's from all that flying that you do."

Jason glared at Nico…they were good. They should've been actors. "Maybe you should spend more time with the living instead of the dead, Death Boy."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Original, Blonde Superman."

Pandora screamed, throwing a fit, literally tearing out her hair (even though it grew back immediately). She closed her eyes and stomped her feet. "WHY WON'T YOU PAY ATTENTION TO ME?! THALIA, YOUR FAMILY IS GONE! YOU HAVE NOBODY! WHY ARE YOU ON THIS QUEST?!"

Jason shook his head as Thalia laughed. "You two are funny."

Rhode interlaced her fingers with mine, and I looked at her. She looked at me, and I saw insecurity in her eyes, as if she needed to hold me, or else she'll succumb to the temptation. I nodded my head, and I looked at Hazel. "Are you hungry?"

Hazel grinned back at me. "Of course. I'm interested in a nice large pizza."

I smiled and nodded. "If we get to the top of this mountain."

Pandora gritted her teeth. Sunlight balled in her fingers in deadly burning energy. "Jason Grace, you were abandoned by your mother and your father. Why are you doing this? You're a Roman who is still under the influence of your implanted memory. You are spurning Reyna, after all she's done for you, for some Barbie Piper."

Jason stopped, and my heart leapt in my throat. He looked straight at Pandora, and grinned maliciously. He looked scarily like a Roman warrior. Thalia put Aegis down. "Jason!-"

He took out his coin and looked at her. "Heads or tails?"

She looked baffled, and hesitated. "Um, heads?"

He grinned. "Tails, it is."

It landed tails, apparently, and an electric spear landed in his hand. Pandora flinched, and turned to run away. He shot out the spear and blasted Pandora with a smooth, powerful blast of lightning, destroying her and transforming her into a cloud of smoke and into a wailing scream.

I looked at her, and he blew off the steam of the spear. "Are we done? You really didn't think that a Roman would take that, did you? I was sitting on her."

I grinned and gave him a fist bump. As everyone else was congratulating him, I then headed towards the wall and put my head to it. I used the earth powers that weren't canceled, and I could feel an immense source of power in the mountain.

Annabeth coughed in my earpiece. "Uh, Percy? Cave?"

I nodded in understanding, and emitted a low growl from the back of my throat. The mountain shook and a rectangular entrance fell through. I was about to head in when something grabbed the back of my shirt and threw me to the ground.

Everyone gasped as Rhode suddenly stabbed Hazel in the stomach with the sword and took it out, prompting my good friend to gasp and fall to the ground with a bad wound. Rhode leapt in the air and landed so she blocked the entrance. Thalia shot a lightning bolt, but Rhode directed the bolt so it struck Nico and he fell to the ground with a cry. Thalia paled at what happened.

She pointed the sword smoothly towards us. "Forget this nonsense. I am the Rhodos, daughter of Poseidon and Aphrodite, and I am afraid that I can't let you leave you this mountain alive. Actually, I'm not afraid. I'm more of glad that I get the honor to kill the great Thalia Grace, Jason Grace, Nico Di Angelo, Hazel Levesque-"

And she looked at me. "And my savior, the great Perseus Jackson."

I uncapped Riptide. "Bring it, Rhode."

She grinned scarily. "It's Rhodos. I technically do not have a name. I was waiting for you to get me this far. I'm offering you to join me. And you didn't think you could ever beat me, did you, Jackson? You are just as funny as when you de-thawed me. I've been waiting for this battle for the longest time. Especially without your powers? Fun. So why don't you join me. I'm only doing this because you're so cute."

I didn't know what was going on, or why Rhode was turning on us all of a sudden, but I mustered up some courage against my more powerful sibling and spun Riptide in the air. "Try me."

She giggled. "I plan to."

And she attacked.


	20. Chapter 20

**Percy POV**

I took in my surroundings quickly. I was at the bottom of a mountain with no trees or place of high leverage to get to. It was starting to rain pretty hard, but it's not like that would help me at all. She was canceling out my powers, and there was nowhere to hide.

As if the hiding strategy was my forte.

I looked down at Riptide, and saw the marking on my hand, the same mark that could quite possibly save my life at one point or another. The simple marking that represented the joining and the cooperation of two worlds.

The image of the Eye of Horus on my palm.

It was drawn by a strange guy who looked mixed in race with African-American and white; he had curly hair and reminded me of Annabeth the way that he knew random facts. He had held a curved sword and a wand of some sorts, and was a formidable adversary…we had sparred against each other before teaming up to defeat a crocodile. He seemed to use some type of magic and I had a feeling that he was involved in another pantheon of gods…Yiddish or something.

He told me that if I ever needed his help again, to touch it and he would be transported to wherever I was, and we would tackle the threat together. However, I could only use it once…then I would probably never see him again. We _did _make a good team. I forgot his name though…

We should get internships for a job at a zoo for magical animals or something.

I looked at my friends who were scattered around me, and I gripped Riptide in anticipation. The adrenaline coursed through my body, and I had no problem admitting that I missed the rush of fighting for my life…even if it does seem weird. But Greek heroes in the modern world aren't necessarily known for their normality.

Rhode's eyes flashed with insanity as I looked at my sister, the one that I had saved from certain death, as she attacked me savagely.

Everything went in slow motion as I put up Riptide to block her strike.

Her blade met mine, but I refused to back down. The sheer impact from her strength and my indestructible blade created a shockwave that knocked both of us back.

I hit the ground and skipped like a rock in water, finally settling down to the ground roughly. Rhode yelled and attacked me with blinding speed, a glow surrounding her. I noticed that her necklace was gone; she could actually kill us today.

She raised her sword to take off my head and I was getting ready to catch it with my legs when a lightning bolt flashed and hit her square in the side. She flew about twenty feet and hit the ground hard, literally bouncing from the force that she was hit. She bounced in the air, recovered while still in the air, and landed on her feet with her blade up. I looked at the source of the blast, and Jason and Thalia were holding their hands out, both sets of hands smoking from the lightning.

Jason grinned. "That felt good."

Thalia smirked. "I had my doubts, but now, I really think that you're my brother. Because I was thinking the exact same thing."

It was scary how alike the two of them looked, with their rugged battle expressions and electric blue eyes. Their confident postures that were full of electricity were identical, and they had smug expressions on their face.

I knew how wrong they were to underestimate Rhode.

She got up and sneered. "I hope you realize that I will kill all of you."

Hazel held her arms out. "Why? Why do this?"

Rhode wiped golden blood from her mouth as she stood to her full height. "To show you. To show my husband. To show the gods."

Her husband? I loosened up my body while keeping an eye on Rhode. "Helios? You mean you didn't get raped?"

She laughed crazily. "Of course not! What do you think? That was my husband! I summoned him to this plane of existence, and he's coming back again! To kill all of you painfully and destroy the earth. And I will be reunited with him."

I held Riptide in front of me…this girl was definitely crazy. "But what is there to prove?"

She breathed deeply. "That I am the most powerful goddess."

She dissolved into mist and reappeared behind Nico. He yelped and blindly threw his sword behind him. Luckily, it was on target, but not so luckily, Rhode moved her head and avoided it. She sliced quickly at Nico's neck, but he ducked. He summoned his sword back and parried Rhode's beheading blow.

She was too strong for him, and he buckled under the pressure. He kicked her legs out, and she lost her balance, giving Nico a few seconds to recover. I grinned. Nico was definitely growing up; he held his own against someone as powerful as her? Not bad at all.

Annabeth spoke in the earpiece, more forgiving and more determined. "Team! Gather together. Keep her off balance."

Thalia attacked, but it started to pour rain, and the wind started to pick up. The raindrops got so big and fell so fast that they actually started to hurt. I prayed to Poseidon.

_Uh, Dad? Now would be a good time for my powers to come back. _

Thalia's advancement slowed, and Rhode swirled the water that was in front of her into a jet that she shot towards Thalia. It hit her straight in the chest, and Thalia was stunned. Jason sent a lightning bolt, and I thought that he had her, but she dissolved in the air and reappeared in front of Jason.

Unfortunately, Jason was expecting her to appear behind him. He looked behind him, and Rhode took that as an opportunity to kick his bad leg out savagely. I could see the bone rupture from the joint, and I saw it sticking out of his knee.

I winced as Jason let out a bloodcurling scream. Hazel and Nico came to me, and I attacked with them. Rhode smiled cruelly, twirling her sword as she watched me attack. The way she was positioned, she reminded me scarily of Kronos in Luke's body.

She held out her hand and the wind picked Hazel and Nico up, throwing them to opposite sides of me. She attacked me at blinding speed, forcing me to throw Riptide up in the air over her head. Her face twisted in confusion as I slid past her, caught the sword, and stabbed her in one motion.

The blade went through her body; except she had changed into water. The blade went straight through her body as if I had stabbed the water in a pool, and the momentum carried me through her body. It felt like going underwater. I fell to the ground so I was in front of her now, and she picked me up, headbutting me so hard that I fell back to the ground.

I gripped my head. "I was _inside _you."

She grinned. "Don't tempt me now."

She tried for a downward swipe to finish me off, but I parried her strike with Riptide again. I tried to sweep kick her legs out to buy me some time, but she didn't fall for it. She simply leapt into the air, and raised her sword, but a huge gust of wind blew her away from me and had her fall to the ground about 10 feet from me. I looked and saw Thalia standing up with Aegis. I got up with her, and I stood with Thalia, cousins in battle, son of Poseidon and daughter of Zeus.

We attacked, but Rhode focused on me first. She feinted to the side, and I fell for it. She backhanded me so hard that I blacked out as I hit the ground. Thalia attacked her, but Rhode dissolved again and materialized in front of me, picking me up and flying into the air. She held me by my shirt as she looked at me with a crazed expression in her eyes. I was fighting to stay conscious as I heard Annabeth scream my name in the earpiece. She ripped it off and shoved it down her throat. Rhode smiled. "Brother."

And then she kissed me, lustfully and crazily, and then threw me to the ground at an unparalleled speed. In the slits of my vision, I saw Thalia hustle under me to slow my fall. Then I realized what she was planning to do. To sacrifice her life to try to save mine.

If I could've yelled at her to tell her to move, I would've, but I was incapable. I flew straight towards Thalia, but I saw Rhode materialize next to Thalia and kick Aegis so hard that Thalia had to take a couple steps back or lose her arm. Rhode then spun and continued to kick her with a godly speed and force, prompting Thalia to move back.

I closed my eyes and thought about all the good things in my life like the blue food that Mom used to make me and like Camp and like Annabeth. I heard Thalia's scream and someone else's as I crashed into the ground, leaving a crater beneath me of about twenty feet in diameter. I should've been dead, but I was still conscious and alive…I just couldn't move my body.

And it hurt.

A lot.

I heard Thalia call my name again, as if to try to wake me out of my physical unconsciousness, but it didn't quite work. Rhode looked at me, and my eyes were barely open. They must've thought I was dead.

Rhode looked at me and shook her head in pity. "A shame. I really liked him too. He would've been my second in command. As you would be if you just switched to the winning side right now."

Nice to know that I have a supporting family. I swear, we need to sit down and take some family therapy with each other, and some one on one time with an experienced doctor. Take a family photo or something. If we could find some place big enough to hold the pegasi and the Cyclopes.

Rhode turned to look at Thalia, but my cousin was gone.

She looked around frantically, until the wind started to blow vigorously. Rhode looked up and I realized what Aphrodite was talking about when she mentioned the New Age of Demigods.

Thalia floated about thirty feet in the air, holding Aegis in her left hand and her sword in her right. Both weapons were now charged with electricity, and the aura that Aegis usually gave out was enhanced so I could feel its power from where I was stationary in the crater.

Thalia's body changed. She was paler, and her eyes had become a literal electric blue. Electricity sparked from her eyes as her eyes glowed like they were supercharged. Her long black hair looked like every tendril was charged with electricity. Thalia's arm muscle had doubled, her leg muscle had doubled, and her outfit had changed into a completely new Hunter's outfit.

There was a faint light blue outline around her body, and lightning flashed in the distance. It was followed by a huge thunderclap that hurt my already fragile ears.

She had the blessing of Zeus. And the blessing of Artemis.

She pointed her sword towards Rhode with a look of pure hate on her face that kind of scared me. Actually, it scared me a lot.

When she spoke, I heard a deep voice that I recognized as Zeus' and a confident female voice that I recognized as Artemis underlying her own voice, so it sounded like three people saying the same thing simultaneously. Kind of like Rachel's Oracle prophecy.

"I am nobody's second in command."

Rhode grinned wildly as another huge thunderclap erupted. "Now THIS is the daughter of Zeus that I wanted to see!"

Thalia cocked her head slowly. "Then come. And fight me."

I didn't know whether Thalia's transformation allowed her to match Rhode in power, but I knew that she didn't surpass Rhode in sheer power. Rhode had her trident off also, which released her full power.

And Rhode leapt up in the air, flying towards Thalia. They had taken the fight out of my vision and I was too weak to follow what they were doing. But I did see a couple things.

I saw Rhode blast jets of water towards Thalia and she blocked it with Aegis. I saw Thalia knock Rhode in the head with Aegis. I saw a savage lightning bolt hit Rhode square in the chest, forcing her to the ground. I saw Rhode engaging in a fierce sword battle with my cousin with no one gaining the upper hand. I saw Rhode kick Thalia brutally in the head. I saw Rhode turn into water to avoid a killing blow, materialize in the back of Thalia, and stab her in the back with a bloody sword.

I heard screams, and I don't know if one of them was mine or not. I saw Thalia lose her blessings and physical power and go back to the headstrong Thalia that we all know and love (except Rhode). I saw Thalia sink to her knees, and fall backwards to the ground.

Rhode gritted her teeth in victory. "Impressive display of girl power. But, if you did not put together the first time I said it, I am more powerful than all of you combined. And your head will look amazing around my neck. Tell Artemis I said hi, and that I still stand by my decision to turn down membership."

I couldn't believe that this was the same girl that I talked to, the same girl I saved, the same girl that kissed me, the same girl that sung to the trees, the same girl who loved animals. I guess things change.

But not this drastically.

Rhode lifted the blade to chop Thalia's head off, and she shook her head in delight. "I hope you die knowing that it was an honor to best you and kill you."

She brought the sword down, but it was met with another clean silver blade. The blade belonged to a familiar face, who hooked Rhode's hand and sliced the sword out of my sister's hand. The familiar face then conducted one swift movement and cut off Rhode's hand, accompanied by a bloodcurling scream from Rhode. It was painful for even me to watch, but this was still a sibling that I cared for. Even if I did know her for only a couple weeks, I still cared for her.

Rhode looked at her stumped right hand with horror and sunk to her knees. "What….how…"

She tried to create rainwater around the wrist and form a water hand, but it kept dissolving due to lack of concentration and the pain that she felt.

The familiar face kicked Rhode brutally in the face so her body snapped back and fell to the ground. Rhode groaned in pain as the boot of the familiar face pressed up against her neck. The familiar face was a girl of about 17; she had olive-colored skin with caramel colored eyes. Her hair was black with natural highlights of caramel. She was about 5'7, with a lithe and sexy figure. She was wearing a brown and black camouflage shirt that was tucked in to her tight black camouflage pants. She wore a Greek belt and wore brown and black combat boots. Her face was more beautiful than the goddess of beauty and sex herself. A silver glow outlined her body and made her look divine. And her expression was twisted with rage and contempt. And I had missed her after not seeing her in years.

Calypso had Rhode pinned with her boot to the ground, with a sword at Rhode's face. Rhode sneered at her. "The Titan's child."

Calypso raised an eyebrow. "The goddess."

Rhode coughed up blood. "The girl out of time. The little girl with the big daddy."

Calypso curled her lip up in disgust, but her voice was still smooth and sexy. "You would be one to talk."

Rhode glared at Calypso, then looked shakily at me, still in the crater in the same exact position.

Hesitantly, Calypso followed Rhode's gaze towards me and her face dropped to one of pure shock and sadness and regret.

As expected, Rhode took the opportunity to change her body into water and to re-form behind Calypso, complete with a new hand and a new ice sword.

In less than a quarter second, Calypso whipped around and held a silver and black bow with two silver magic arrows notched towards Rhode's face and a battle expression set firmly on her face. "Do not think that I will not kill a daughter of Aphrodite."

Due to Calypso's hesitation, Rhode savagely backhanded Calypso so that she flew back towards the ground. Calypso hit the ground and backflipped up, her bow turning into her sword. Rhode and Calypso attacked each other, not wasting any time.

The battle was a standstill. Blades were clanging, powers were being used, but there was no one gaining the upper hand. In the corner of my eye, I could see Nico getting up from being knocked unconscious from the storm. Hazel was still on the ground, while Jason was behind me somewhere. Thalia had passed out and was still on the ground.

I needed to do something.

I strained to move a body part, and my fingers twitched.

I managed to grin.

Calypso sliced at Rhode's head, chopping it off cleanly. The body melted into water and reformed in the same spot, complete and whole. Rhode grinned. "How can you kill someone that can't be killed?"

Calypso's face was that of pure shock. She looked at me, and then fixed a hard look of determination. Where was the peaceful, garden-tending, singing girl that was on Ogygia? Now, I see a fierce, sexy, intelligent warrior. I didn't know which one I preferred at this point. I thought she would be the happiest right now.

Rhode turned and kicked Calypso towards me. Calypso hit the ground hard and slid. She got up, and dust got in my mouth. I coughed and Calypso whipped her head towards me. "Perseus!"

I grinned weakly. "Hi."

She blushed, but Rhode attacked brutally with a huge jet of water. Calypso was knocked back another twenty feet. She walked past me, and I took the opportunity.

As she was facing Calypso, I grabbed Rhode and put her in a wrestler's lock that Clarisse showed me; a grip that no one can get out of. Rhode screamed in anger and thrashed in my grasp, but didn't get anywhere. Eventually, she shot up into the air, flying higher and higher.

As expected, she turned her course and sped down to the ground at a quick speed. I yelled at Nico, "NICO! BAG! FORK!"

Thankfully, he understood. He sprinted to my bag, got out the fork, and tapped the ground with it. The pitchfork sprang to its full seven and a half foot size, black and silver weapon. He looked at me with hesitance.

Calypso looked at the pitchfork and looked up at me. "PERSEUS, NO! YOU WILL BE KILLED!"

Rhode realized what I was doing, and I could feel her body getting more slippery. But like me, her being so close to me weakened her powers while they canceled out mine. It was only a matter of time, however, when she turned into water and escaped.

The wind whistled in my face and blew my face back when I yelled, "NICO! NOW!"

With tears his eyes, Nico tensed his arms, shooting a blast of deathly gray energy towards us. It hit us both square in our chests, and everything went white with Rhode's scream of defeat.


	21. Chapter 21

**Thalia POV**

Life isn't fair.

Life is cruel, plays tricks with your mind, and then tosses you away when it's done with you.

Percy Jackson, my cousin, did not deserve to die.

Death almost has a sense of humor.

Even after I came to consciousness, I just leaned on a rock and stared into the distance as I heard the sobs from Hazel and some stranger. Jason even had a small tear find its way down his cheek. The only person not crying was Nico, who stood off in the distance. He was closing his eyes, probably trying to find Percy's consciousness in the Underworld. Or he better be, at least.

My mind wandered to the endless arguments with Percy, but my mind seized on the one memory that I had, when I had first woken up after a decade of being a pine tree and protecting Camp Half-Blood. I was completely confused, and I remember that the first thing I saw was the caring sea green orbs of my cousin. I had some huge blanket over me that felt really warm and it felt like I was getting stronger by the second. Despite the warm blanket, I was shivering. Fiercely.

I was so confused; I didn't know if it was a dream or reality. I just looked into those calm green eyes, and I couldn't tell who they were. His confidence and care had reminded me of Luke, and my mind seized on him and where he was. But Luke had blue eyes…

_Someone lifted me by the shoulders and put me in a sitting position, and my head found its way on a shoulder. I heard voices, one of outrage and I felt movement on the ground. _

_I opened my eyes. "Who-"_

_The strange guy who was holding me was about my age and was cute, in a playful, obnoxious sort of way. He grinned reassuringly, even though I didn't know where I was._

_Luke? Where was Luke?_

_Who are all these people? Is that Grover? _

_Grover! _

_Who was the horse-man?_

_And who was the blonde girl in my peripheral vision? She was crying while looking at me…she had stormy grey eyes._

_No…_

_There was only one blonde girl with stormy gray eyes, but she was a child when I had last seen her. This couldn't be her, all grown up. _

_The dude's voice jarred me back to reality as he was holding me. My feet and hands were covered with roots. He smelled faintly of a sea breeze, and his eyes once again comforted me. _

"_I'm Percy. You're safe now." _

_My eyes widened. I had heard his name before…Perseus Jackson…was this the same person? I had a dream about him. I looked in his eyes. "Strangest dream…" _

_He grinned again. He sure smiled a lot. "It's okay." _

I stared off into space as I felt his caring presence holding me when I was at my weakest moment. I remembered when I drove Apollo's chariot with Percy right there. I remembered when he suggested that we should take the long way instead of climbing up to the mountain. I looked at him, questioning myself why he would do this because I had heard of Luke's betrayal of me and couldn't trust anyone again. I remembered when I told him about my first offer to join the Hunters and my rivalry with Zoe. I remembered his face when I told him that he would be the child of the prophecy. The emotions in those eyes that I knew so well went like this: shock, fear, denial, wariness, acceptance, and determination. I remembered when I promised him a cheeseburger after recovering the sword of Hades.

He was the one who had suggested for me to stop my punk/rock/alternative dress style and go for a more mature and serious look. I was hesitant at first, shocking him with my finger, but I considered it; he was someone that I trusted though. Then, I stopped cutting my hair and let it grow out. Me being a Hunter, it never got tangled. Everyone complimented me on my look, and I silently thanked Percy for it.

The one who had saved Olympus, the world, gone through the prison of evil itself and tumbled right back out of it, stronger than ever.

A hero's fate is never peaceful. They will always have epic deaths.

I thought that me being a Hunter would completely prepare me for the death of loved ones. Especially heroes.

It didn't.

The Hunters isn't what people make it out to be. It isn't a whole bunch of girls lying in trees and shooting deer to eat. It's a boot camp. And I am the lieutenant of it. The roster was made up of twenty girls, and our newest addition was Reyna, who I left in charge when I went on this trip.

Seven principles that I teach my Hunters.

Discipline. Awareness. Efficiency. Style. Teamwork. Sacrifice.

And the one principle that sets us from others similar groups, the one that Percy majors in.

Morals.

Percy would've made a great Hunter.

Oh gods, what would his mother think? I remember when she gave us a ride to a middle school dance and she was being the stereotypical overbearing mother.

Sweet Sally Jackson.

An overbearing, loving, caring mother is better than no mother at all.

What would Annabeth think?

I smiled sadly as a tear traced its way down my cheek. Annabeth. My little Anna. It was obvious that she liked Percy, and yet Percy was oblivious and Annabeth didn't want to admit it.

It was cute.

A voice brought me back to reality.

"Are you okay?"

The voice belonged to the stranger. A girl. She was about seventeen, who was about 5'7, with tears coming down her face also. Where her tears fell, the ground sunk in and fresh, green flower buds grew in the ground. She radiated power and I realized that this was the same person that saved me from Rhode's killing blow. The same person who blocked Rhode's sword. Who was she? A goddess? No, I would've recognized her.

One thing about her, though, she was really beautiful. Like, _seriously _beautiful. I would never tell them this, but she had Artemis and Aphrodite beat in terms of beauty if the two goddesses' beauty was combined. She looked like a model, with a perfect body and everything. She gave me a tearful smile of encouragement. However, my time with Artemis enhanced my ability to see emotions underneath facades; and she was hiding extreme amounts of sadness.

Where was that psycho, Rhode?

I wanted a rematch with her…little did anyone else know that she got into my head and played hallucinations in my mind while we were fighting. Of my mother and her prostitute ways, of the loud arguments that she and Zeus had in the house, and of Hera's bitterness towards me. Luke's betrayal.

Hazel jogged over to me, sobbed and hugged me. Awkwardly, I hugged her back. I looked at the stranger, and she nodded towards me. "I am Calypso. I was a…friend of Percy's."

So _this _was the infamous Calypso character of myth. The one with Odysseus…and the one with the island that Percy washed up on. She _was _beautiful, I would give her that. And she radiated a quiet power and a natural peacefulness about her. I could see why Percy was torn of whether to come to this cruel reality or stay with Calypso.

I raised an eyebrow. "Was?"

Calypso closed her eyes. "I had saved you from the Rhodos."

"The Rhodos?"

Calypso nodded solemnly. "The avatar of water. She has complete mastery of the element, plus was trained by the Titan of War and battle. She was raised by nymphs, and was the consort of Helios."

I thought back to Apollo, when I called him hot. "The guy…who _used _to drive the sun across the sky."

She nodded. "Then, we engaged in a quick skirmish before she gained a slight upper hand. You, looking like an experienced fighter, knows that slight upper hand can result in defeat or death, correct?"

I nodded; Artemis had drilled that into us several times. Calypso nodded. "I was leaning towards the latter. Rhode advanced towards me, past a severely weakened Percy."

I sat forward, my eyes widening. "You mean he wasn't dead?"

She hesitated. "When I came here, he was alive. You were unconscious. In a last-ditch effort, Percy used the last of his strength to hold the Rhodos while the thin boy over there blasted the two of them with the pitchfork of Hades."

Percy….

Was alive? And sacrificed his life to save ours and to beat Rhode?

And Nico shot them?

I yelled and huge blasts of lightning flashed in the sky. I held out my hand and an invisible force threw Nico towards me. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him up. "Why? WHY?!"

He got over his initial shock and sobered up. "Percy asked me to. Actually, he commanded me to. I've been trying to reach him, but I can't."

I threw him to the ground. "Well _try _harder."

I sank to the ground and sighed. Now I know how Annabeth felt, except not as bad because at least there's a peace in knowing that Percy's safe in the grips of death. I came to the realization that there was going to be one point when Jason dies, when Nico dies, when Grover dies…and when Annabeth dies.

And I'll still be living.

I looked out into space as Calypso sat on the ground next to me, her weapons glowing and reappearing on her back. "You know that Percy saved me from my prison. I never wanted to be saved."

I looked at her, and her caramel brown eyes looked back at me, not backing down from my intimidating gaze. She looked back at the spot where Nico blasted them (apparently). "He washed up on my island, and he looked amazing. I fell in love with him just talking to him as he would tell stories about his friend Grover playing Hacky Sack and whatnot."

I smiled sadly. He was such a Seaweed Brain. What I would give to be able to call him that one more time.

"I was forced by the Fates to give him the choice to go back to his life or to stay with me. He looked torn, but I could read his expression. He thought about Annabeth, and his mother, and of you. So when he left, I was heartbroken again, a pawn of the Fates. Suddenly, Hermes appeared in a boat, telling me that Percy freed me as part of his wish on Olympus. I was ecstatic, but sad, as I had to leave my home on Ogygia."

I realized, listening to Calypso, that she wasn't that bad at all.

"I explored the world, and realized the evil that was present in it. The evil was bad, so I realized that I needed to become badder than the bad."

I nodded; I could see where she got that from. I sighed. "Percy…he was my cousin. I'm a daughter of Zeus, and blessed by Artemis as the lieutenant of the Hunters."

Calypso nodded. Suddenly, the ground started to shake, and a huge hole burst through the mountain. A Cyclops poked his head through, his nose moving. "What is all this noise?"

He looked straight at us, his nose following us. He gave a toothless grin."Half-Bloods."

I got my weapons out, but he scooped us up with a great speed and brought us into the cold cave, the mountain sealing behind him.


	22. Chapter 22

**Percy POV**

I woke up lying on a bed, facing a completely white ceiling. The temperature in the room was purely comfortable, not too hot or cold, and not too warm or cool. I was laying on some nice cold white pillows, a nice white bed, and a long white blanket. None of the articles of the bed had a stain on it, and I had a feeling that it would be incapable to spill something on it, or else the clean police (almost as bad as Mom) would come and arrest me.

I tried to sit up, but an invisible force held me down to the bed. I sighed in defeat; I was used to these strange magical traps and finding some annoyingly clever way out of them.

But where was my sister?

I remember that my sister turned insane and claimed that Helios, the Titan of the Sun, was her husband and that she was the firstborn of Poseidon, making her more powerful than me. Something about raising him up again so that he can destroy the earth. Something normal like that.

"What is your name?"

My body tensed at the sudden voice that came from the right side of me. I was still laying and looking at the ceiling, incapable of looking anywhere else. I realized that I had no heartbeat…oh yeah. I'm dead.

So that's it. Big Hero of Olympus, dead and lying on a therapist's bed. Where was Annabeth? Oh my gods, she probably saw the whole thing or put it together by now. What would she think?

Now I know what Grover felt when he woke up from his three-month nap from Morpheus. A tear slid down my cheek. I didn't even take Annabeth to the fireworks. I never got to marry her or ever think about kids with her. I thought I had built something permanent with her. Alas, nothing

At least since I died like that, I proved Athena wrong about my fatal flaw; I even did the opposite than what she expected me to do. As if I lived my whole life to prove her wrong.

I remember that Nico had blasted me with Hades' pitchfork at my command to destroy both Rhode and I…but if I was conscious….then Rhode would be conscious…

The voice came again, tensing my body again. "What is your name?"

"Percy Jackson," I answered promptly and clearly.

The voice was silky smooth, and had an ancient tint to it. It was timeless and remote. "Why did you choose to die?"

An irresistible force forced me to sit up and face the voice. I saw someone familiar sitting at the desk, even though his long hair was cut in a modern style. He still had the chiseled face and honey gold eyes boring into my eyes. His skin was the color of light teakwood, and his suit was completely white.

Thantos. The personification of peaceful death.

That makes sense.

He sighed. "Look, thank you for saving me from those chains a while ago, but if you are going to keep ignoring my questions, I will just move you on to the Underworld."

I raised an eyebrow. "Um, can you repeat the question?"

He sighed. "Why did you choose to die?"

I looked at the wall. "To protect the people I cared about from Rhode."

He sniffed. "Who is this 'Rhode'? She happens to be the Rhodos, a prophesied avatar of water. Only the deities know of her. Half-bloods are forbidden to speak of her, or else they will be killed."

I frowned. "Then why are you talking to me about it?"

He smiled. "Aren't you dead already?"

I looked around. "Um, I don't know. This isn't my idea of what death was."

He smiled again. "You're a smart boy. The Rhodos was destined to rise and destroy the planet, considering that it's more than 75 percent water. The Tougio was destined to rise up and defeat her. The Great Son. Anyway, she has complete mastery of water in all forms. She hasn't been at her full power yet. At her normal high power, and you at your normal high power, you would get killed in a confrontation between you two 100 out of 100 times."

"Gee, thanks."

"I am just telling you the truth. I am the personification of death, peaceful death to be exact. You chose a peaceful death, and that's why you're here."

I looked around; it was still empty except for the bed and the desk set up like a therapist's room. "So no one else died a peaceful death?"

Thanatos held up a finger. "No one _chose _a peaceful death. Even people who have good intentions and die for somebody else, they subconsciously hope that they're just seriously injured and don't die. As a result, they die and go to the Underworld, crushing their dreams."

I frowned again. "So I'm not dead because I chose to die?"

He nodded proudly and smiled as if I finally understood a simple lesson that he was teaching me. I sighed. "Look, I just have to ask. Is Rhode…the Rhodos dead too? Because, if not, I just have to ask to go back to the land of the living. I can't have her on the planet without me on it; there's nobody else that can challenge her. Not even gods. And I'm the only person willing to fight her head on. And plus…Annabeth would be in danger."

Thanatos looked at me as if he expected me to say something else. He raised an eyebrow. "Is there any other reason why you would want to go back?"

I looked dead in his honey golden eyes. "I have to keep a promise."

Thanatos nodded as if that was what he was waiting for. He waved his hand and Riptide appeared in my hand. It felt so natural in my hand that I wanted to suddenly swing it at Thanatos' neck and see if Death itself can die. "You're still going to be sent to the Underworld soon."

I gripped Riptide. "Then why in the world would you invite me here and give me this sword?!"

He shrugged indifferently, and turned away from me to take care of his papers. "If one thing about being captured and having the Doors of Death…or the Doors of Me open for the whole time, I realized that Death is not fair. But it's necessary."

I gritted my teeth. "Is the Rhodos alive?"

He nodded simply. "She is not capable of dying. You will never find her in the Underworld. That's why she was in her ice prison. A hero of Poseidon had frozen her there when she was at full power. You made a mistake releasing her."

"I was saving her life! You wanted me to let her die, even though she wasn't capable of dying?!"

He shrugged again. "She would've gone to Tartarus. And she wouldn't be a current threat to you now. But go out that door-"

He beckoned towards the corner of the room, and a door appeared. "-and you'll fall straight into Elysium. Goodbye, Jackson."

He turned towards his desk and organized files as if he was done with me. I gripped my sword in anger. She was alive?! There was no one on the planet who could defeat her. But…

I raised Riptide to bring it down on Thanatos' neck. It couldn't hurt him because he was Death itself.

However, in a fluid motion, a long sword parried my strike, and he faced me down. "Interesting. You would attack Death and risk Elysium for your petty, short life?"

I glowered. "It's a short life that I can spend helping people."

I tried to sweep his legs out, but he materialized away from me and sat on the bed, looking at me. "Are you done?"

I attacked him again and he sighed. He parried my strike and disarmed me with one stroke, pointing the blade at my throat. "If you were living, you would dead by contact with this blade."

"So…I am dead."

I sighed in resignation. Thanatos looked at me. He reached out towards me and touched my temples on my forehead with his two hands, and suddenly, I felt a heartbeat and blood flowing. I felt my organs awake again, running properly. I felt stronger than when I was living, and I looked at Thanatos in question. He scowled at me. "I could lose my job for this."

I still didn't understand the fact that Death can lose his job with Hades. Strange. But I nodded, nonetheless, a little too eager since I was officially living again.

He nodded reluctantly. "I removed the psychic block that the pathetic goddess of the mind put up to prevent the coming out of your anger from Tartarus."

I shuddered and smiled weakly. "So does that mean that when I get angry, I turn big and green and super strong and powerful and invincible?"

He looked at me meaningfully and managed a dry smile. "Take the big and green out and you're somewhat accurate. Anyway, get out of my sight. Right out that door, and you will find yourself at the site of your death."

I didn't have time to process what that meant, because a huge wind blew me towards the door and out of it, and suddenly I was falling.

One thing was certain, though.

Percy Jackson was back.


	23. Chapter 23

**Thalia POV**

Even in the cold, disgusting cell, I could feel the power of the master bolt being cleansed in the Cyclopes' river of purging.

It would glow every time that the Cyclopes would take it out with their huge gloves, and the air would smell of super-powerful ozone.

We had been thrown in here, where we all took the opportunity to fall asleep because of the lack of lighting in the area. We hadn't slept for a good day and a half, and the stress with losing Percy was weighing on us all.

Only I stayed awake; me being a Huntress and whatnot, I do not have to sleep. I mean, really, people who want to be amazing hunters have to be alert all the time. But how much help that allowed me at this point, none.

The only thing that I've observed is the really cold setting in the prison. The prison was almost pitch black, except there was a torch that allowed shadows to fall all around the prison. Spiderwebs were evident in the corner, and rats crawled around the walls. I looked around for the hundredth time for any kind of exit that I could capitalize on…

Cyclopes bustled around, working hard on the cleansing of the bolt. Hazel was leaning against Nico, knocked out. Nico was in his meditative state, probably conversing with the dead in the Underworld in his spirit self. Both of them leaned against the bad-smelling wall that had mold and cracks throughout the whole structure. Jason had fallen asleep in my lap, and I had the feeling of déjà vu from back when I was younger and he used to do that all the time. Calypso slept next to Hazel, with her bow in her lap and ready for any kind of battle. I could tell that she was a very light sleeper.

I jumped when a Cyclops bashed his head against the indestructible bars, growling at me that he'll be sure to eat me slowly so that I'll be conscious the whole time.

I'm not going to lie and say that I've completely gotten over my slight phobia of Cyclopes.

How is that a phobia? A phobia is an irrational fear.

Never mind, a fear of Cyclopes because of the last stand that I had taken in front of Camp Half-Blood.

I closed my eyes and tried a technique that Artemis showed me to block out the stars. I heard Calypso behind me flash up and notch an arrow, aiming it at the Cyclops.

"_Focus on the stars, young Huntress."_

"_But, Lady Artemis, what if we're indoors? Or there are no more stars available?"_

_Artemis smiled. "Always full of questions. Focus on the stars in your mind. Just look at a starry sky, and that will always calm you down. I promise." _

And she kept to her promise. Because that calmed me down enough to hear a whisper. The arrow found itself in the Cyclops' eye, and he screamed, staggering away and bumping into other Cyclopes, who beat him to a pulp for disturbing them.

"Who are you?"

I whipped my head towards the corner of the cell; we had been here for forty-five minutes at least and I never noticed him…he snuck up on me.

_No one _can sneak up on me.

I looked to see who the voice had come from, and I strained my eyes to look at the shadows of the cell. As if they knew that I was trying to look through them, the shadows parted and I saw a person in the cell. _Long _raven black hair fell down to his shoulders, except it looked silky smooth, like he used some hair care products or something. He was young, and looked lean and strong with a figure of about 6'1. He wore tattered robes that were ripped so some of his chest was showing, and some of his bare legs were showing.

Even in the change of identity, I knew who he was. Calypso drew a breath.

"Is that-"

My mouth was open. "Percy? PERCY!"

I scrambled up and pulled him up to a standing position. He flinched when I touched him and when I pulled him up, he grasped the wall for dear life. I hugged him tightly, but then I realized a sickening reality.

This wasn't Percy.

His bones were different.

That might seem a weird way to recognize somebody, but when I had hugged him after accepting immortality, I knew how he hugs. I knew his hugging identity. And this person that I was hugging was someone completely different.

I pulled away and looked at him. He had dead blue eyes, with an angry expression on his face. He looked just like Percy…but this guy was a little more muscular, with more power radiating from him. He was blind, though, so when I let him go, he scrambled to find the wall and to sit back down in his place.

I sighed in frustration. "Who are you?"

He looked up in my general direction, cocking his head. "I asked you first."

I never knew someone to trump me intelligence-wise, but he managed to take the cake. I narrowed my eyes at him. "I am Thalia. Daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of Artemis."

He smirked and said in a sarcastic fashion, "Impressive."

I gritted my teeth and pulled his shirt, prompting his head to immediately turn towards the catalyst of the sudden force.

Me.

"You men think you're so tough and so bad. Well who are you anyway; you never answered my question."

Calypso put a hand on my shoulder, and I felt calmer immediately. It was hard not to like this chick.

The dude smirked again, and he scarily reminded me of Percy when he did that, so much so that I gasped and covered my mouth. His brow furrowed when he heard the sound, but he didn't dwell on it thankfully.

"I am Ergiscus, son of Poseidon and the water nymph Aba."

A son of Poseidon.

How fitting. Do the Fates hate me or something?

I put my head in my hands as a tear slid down my cheek; a person who looks just like Percy and a son of Poseidon. Wonderful.

He grinned as his hands found mine, grabbing onto them sensitively and lightly. He frowned slightly as he felt my hands. "You have a _lot _of power inside of you…are you a goddess?"

I smiled involuntarily, then quickly replaced it with my usual scowl. Despite him being blind, I believed that he could sense the sudden change in attitude. "Did I say something wrong?"

Calypso sighed. "No, a friend of ours has fallen. And you remind us of him very much so. Your physical appearance, and your matter-of-fact attitude struck us."

He managed a dry smile. "Yeah, well, he was a son of Poseidon?"

I nodded. I forgot that he was blind, but he seemed to sense the change in my bone structure because he nodded. "I used to be his champion. Ergiscus. Everyone thought me to be the Rhodos, the avatar of water. But it didn't quite happen."

Calypso sat down like it was story time, I just looked at him when he mentioned the name Rhodos. "What happened, stranger?"

He paused. "Let me show you."

He made a circle motion in the air with his finger, and the four walls of the prison turned into a 3D movie thing, where we were standing in the movie, watching the events happening.

He coughed. "Sorry. Anyway, I was the son of Poseidon and Aba."

The view showed a younger Poseidon with a beautiful young woman with flowing black hair like Ergiscus'. He continued. "Since I was the child of two water deities, my control of water was as natural to me as walking."

The view showed him at maybe 5 years old, bending water out of an old looking cup and slashing it to the ground, laughing and clapping his hands. His eyes were a bright green, cheerful and alert. He _really _looked like Percy now.

"As a result, I started to be a hero. I found the horse Arion, and the two of us hit it off really quickly, us being brothers and whatnot."

The view showed him at like sixteen, looking just like Percy except with his long hair thing going on. He petted Arion, and it whinnied, looking at him as if saying, _You're worthy to pet my fur. _

"He used to ride like the wind, and we became heroes. But no one ever sings the tale of Ergiscus and Arion. It's always heroes like Theseus and Hercules; well ever since they got that new job with Olympus, they've been forgotten."

The view showed a young man that looked like Percy, except he had ocean blue eyes and a cocky smile that made you want to go over to his side. He was lean and muscular, with jet black hair and an observant and brave expression on his face. He was wearing a plain black suit.

The escaper of the Labyrinth. Theseus.

The other one was muscular man with light coffee-colored skin who carried a metal black baseball bat, who was also in a plain black suit.

The figure of the 12 Labors.

Hercules.

I asked, "What job were they recruited for?"

"Some secret service organization for Olympus that kills threats before it's even recognized by humanity. They're completely off the radar, they have no shadow, fingerprint, they can be invisible, and they're usually the best Greek heroes that composes their team of twelve. Hercules jumped at the opportunity because it actually gave him something to do. Theseus wanted to do it after he lost both Ariadne and his new little girlfriend. It's Hercules, the fighter. Theseus, the navigator. Jason, the leader. Perseus, the conqueror. Orion, the hunter. Orpheus, singer. Odyseus, the traveler. Bellerophon, the follower. Achilles, the angerer. Calchas, the interpreter. Tiresias, the seer. And Agamemnon, the persuader."

"But anyway, I'm on a rowboat, rowing myself for fun to spend time with my father. When suddenly, I pass by this island and a whirlpool sucks me in. I go underwater and resurface on the island. This random beautiful girl sees me, falls in love with me, and rapes me."

The view was of Ergiscus rowing and falling into a whirlpool, then it switched to Percy's sister and Ergiscus on the beach, surrounded by waves. Rhode was on top of him, and he seemed knocked out.

"I wake up and she asks me what my name was. I didn't want to give her my name, because that would be weird."

A sickening realization came to me that I hoped was not accurate at all. Calypso watched me as my body tensed. "So you gave her a different name."

He shrugged. "I gave her the only name that came to mind, the name of the legendary son of Zeus himself. My favorite hero. He actually had a happy ending."

I face-palmed myself. "Perseus."

The view was a close up of Ergiscus' face, which looked just like Percy. Calypso gasped, and looked away with tears threatening in her eye.

He sighed. "When I woke up, I got angry, and rebuked her with my abilities. She caught me off guard with her genealogy…daughter of Poseidon. My sister. I got that when she canceled all of my powers. We battled, for months on end, until at one final strike, she sliced out my eyes. They grew back…but they were never the same. I lost my sight."

The view showed Rhode viciously slicing his eyes out, and blood running out of his sockets. Calypso gritted her teeth. "Monster."

He nodded, and continued. "In my final attack, I used my cryokinesis and froze her at the bottom of some river."

The view showed him with empty sockets, getting into a meditative state and releasing a blast of light blue energy that froze Rhode in her attempt to block it.

"And that was all I remember because I had passed out. And I woke up and I was in this cell. Apparently, I've stayed here for the last fifty or so years. If you don't pose a threat to the Cyclopes, they'll be fine. So I've been using my earth powers to know where I am."

I looked at him, and he turned his head to the darkness. "Well, why don't you fight? Why don't you get out of here?"

He sighed. "There is nothing to live for. I'm done. My life is over."

I sighed, stood up, and smacked him promptly in the face. He gripped his face and I pulled him up to my face. "You have everything to live for. You're attractive, you're powerful, and you have a choice to do good in this world. Is it random that you're still alive after all these years and haven't died? You have a duty in this world, and if you don't do that, then you've wasted a lifetime. You didn't abandon your love like Theseus did. You didn't have several female and male lovers like Hercules. You have a gift. You faced the Rhodos and lived. I've heard the legend is that everyone that the Rhodos faces, dies. And you're still alive, and actually subdued her. So why couldn't you do anything about it now? She's alive."

He sat up. "She's alive?"

Calypso nodded. "Yes, she's alive. And she killed our leader. And she's out to revive Helios."

He stood up. "The Rhodos?"

Both Calypso and I said simultaneously, "Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

We both said again, "Yeah."

He beckoned for us to stand back, and both Calypso and I ran into the rest of our team, that was awake and standing behind us. I didn't know how much they heard, but I didn't need to find out.

He put his fist in his hands. "I don't know what you're after, but you're after something. I'm guessing the master bolt, because that's what pulls everyone to this area. Daughter of Zeus, you should know where it is. When the mountain starts to collapse, grab the bolt while the Cyclopes are confused. And do me a favor when it comes to the Rhodos."

Jason stepped forward, taking charge. "What?"

He grinned in the direction of Jason. "Kick her ass for me."

Jason nodded solemnly. "I got you."

He closed his eyes and made a cross-legged sitting position in the air, with his fist in his hands. The whole mountain started to shake. I looked at him. "You're going to die…why are you doing this?"

He grinned in my direction. "Because I only get one life. And I believe that you're up to a good cause. So this is what the Fates kept me alive for."

The mountain started to shake more violently, and the cell's lock bust open. Jason, Calypso, Hazel, Nico, and I filed out of the cell, but I stopped.

Nico turned to me. "THALIA! COME ON! WE NEED TO GET THE BOLT!"

I looked at Nico, then hustled back into the cell, giving Ergiscus a kiss on the cheek. "You go, boy."

He blushed as the mountain started to shake harder. He looked in my direction. "GO!"

I sprinted with Nico and the group, and I spotted the huge vat of liquid that the bolt was in. I could still feel the power of my father's weapon. Cyclopes were running around the cave frantically, hitting each other and struggling to hide somewhere.

I pointed towards the top of the mountain. A huge boulder fell from the top and smacked a Cyclops in the head, knocking him out.

"JASON! COME HERE!"

Jason sprinted to me, and I brought Calypso to me also. She stood on the left side of me and we all held our hands out towards the vat. I yelled, "CONCENTRATE ON THAT BOLT!"

I closed my eyes and prayed to Dad.

Other half-bloods may pray to their godly parents some specific way; I pray to mine like this.

_Zeus, give me the damn bolt. Please. _

Lightning flashed and the bolt flashed into my hands. The Cyclopes stopped panicking and looked straight towards us. "THE HALF-BLOODS HAVE THE BOLT!"

They bounded towards us, but their eyesight wasn't good enough to pinpoint. I pointed towards the wall. "CLIMB! JASON, BLOW A HOLE IN THE MOUNTAIN!"

Rocks fell from the sky, crushing Cyclopes left and right.

Nico jumped on the wall, and found several footholds that allowed him to climb fairly quickly. He grabbed Hazel and pulled her up. Jason leapt on the side of the mountain and climbed quickly. Calypso scaled the wall lightning quick, and I, holding the bolt, climbed the wall of the mountain. I yelled Jason's name and threw the bolt to him. I undershot it, and it fell to the ground; in the clutches of our favorite Cyclops, Polyphemus.

He grinned toothily and held it up triumphantly. "I got master's bolt! I will get promotion in new job!"

Calypso shot an arrow in his eye and I just got angry. I did not come this far to have our bolt be taken by some huge bully who hurt Annabeth, kidnapped Grover, attacked Percy, and tried to move Tyson to his side. It was times like these where I missed Percy's half-brother. He was so affectionate and genuine, and useful in battle. He wasn't a bad man.

I yelled and a lightning bolt erupted from my hand, stunning him long enough for me to bring the bolt to my hand. I yelled again and a blast came from the master bolt and knocked him out. I threw it up, yelling Jason's name again, and he catches it this time.

He scales the wall and blasts a hole in the mountain as the other side of the mountain crumbles completely. I thought of Ergiscus' brave sacrifice as Calypso was the last person to climb through the hole before me.

The ceiling came down, and I had about 10 seconds to get out.

I heard a familiar voice that said, "Let's get her, please. Be wise, not dumb."

Annabeth.

My foot got stuck.

I panicked and I lost my grip on the foothold. I fell towards the ground with the ceiling collapsing, but an arm shot out and caught my wrist before I fell.

I looked up, expecting to see Artemis, but I can't help myself from grinning ear to ear and my heart rising in my chest.

Sea green orbs looked down at me, and a warm grin smiled down at me. "Miss me?"

Seaweed Brain.


	24. Chapter 24

**Percy POV**

"-and then, I felt a tremor in the Earth. So Annabeth and I found all of you within seconds, and I saved your life. As usual."

Thalia raised an eyebrow at me. "You're telling me that you had a therapeutic session with…Death. And you attacked him. And he let you go, with your weapon. And you found Annabeth, and then you found us, and saved my life."

I grinned. "As usual."

She stared at me, then gave me a bone crushing hug; the fifth one the last twenty minutes. "Don't you ever leave me like that again, Seaweed Brain."

"I understand, Miss Thalia."

She sighed and punched me in the arm. "I'm your cousin, not your army commander. Annabeth, how did you get here?"

My girlfriend shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I just woke up here."

Really, when I had gotten back to the land of the living, I had used the most powerful aspect of my empathy link; to summon the linked person to my area. We had a quick tearful reunion, me crushing her in a hug, and her tears falling on my shirt. She was scared that she had lost me again after Hera had switched me over to the Roman camp, and I was scared that I would've lost her.

I had told her that I was going to take her to the fireworks, no matter what happens. I really felt like I wanted to build a permanent thing with her…the first two demigods in a while to get married on the Greek side.

Ever since Thanatos touched my head, I've felt stronger than I've ever been. I realized that the cliché opinion is accurate; love just might be stronger than death.

I inhaled, and smelled a faint sea breeze. Oh, yeah.

My powers were back.

I looked around, feeling the ozone crackling in the air. "Where's the bolt? Tell me that after collapsing the Guadalupe Mountains, you have the bolt."

Jason held it up, and it expanded in his grasp, coursing with power. The master bolt of Zeus. It looked familiar, as if it was waving to me. _Hi! You remember when you got framed for stealing me? _

I looked at Jason; I was glad that he had it and not Thalia….her fatal flaw was her struggle for power. I remember her almost hungry expression as she stared at the Ophiotaurus.

Jason cleared his throat. "Right here, boss. Now, all we need is your dad's trident."

Annabeth looked at Jason. "How sure are you that he _wants _Percy to kill his sister? And don't call him boss."

He shrugged. "Maybe because she's evil? Maybe?"

I sighed. "Not every person who does bad is evil, Jason." My thoughts trained back to Luke and Silena, how they seemed to do bad things against us, but in the end, turned out to be inherently good. I will never forget Luke's determined expression when he told me to give him the knife. I was lucky that my fatal flaw was not Thalia's; I would've tried to kill him myself, Kronos would've came back and Olympus would've been razed.

Jason scoffed. "She broke my leg more times than it's fallen asleep on me in my lifetime."

Annabeth shook her head. "We need to have a defense plan. Apparently, she's the Rhodos. The avatar of water or something. Some huge deity that has complete mastery over the element. But you know what we have that she doesn't?"

Everyone looked around at each other. Nico asked, "Um, love?"

I sighed as the whole group laughed. Calypso's laugh sounded good to my ear.

Wait…Calypso?

I looked at her as Annabeth was discussing some plan. Calypso looked happy, but I had figured that she would've been traveling the world, doing something that she loved to do. But now, she just looked like a sexy assassin. Her caramel brown eyes trained on me, and looked in my eyes. They softened when she looked at me, and she gave me a brilliant smile. "I am glad that you're alive, Percy. You deserve life."

I grinned. "Um, thank you?"

She stepped forward and gave me a tight hug; the lingering scent of cinnamon in her hair still had not gone away. It provided some comfort in the chaos. Annabeth narrowed her eyes towards Calypso. "Hi, and you would be?"

Calypso smiled and held out her hand. "I am Calypso, the nymph daughter of Atlas and former caretaker of Ogygia."

Annabeth's body tensed. "Calypso?"

She nodded. "Yes. Percy freed me from my prison."

Annabeth nodded slowly. "Right…so you were the girl that took care of Percy a couple years ago on your island."

I started to shift uncomfortably. "Um, Annabeth?"

Calypso visibly tensed when I mentioned my girlfriend's name. She held up a finger towards me, and I felt waves of verbal attack coming from Annabeth. "Did you help him? Did you heal him?"

Calypso nodded kind of slowly. "…yes? He was hurt, and would've died without my caretaking. I treated his burns and his injuries."

Annabeth scoffed. "This is the same guy who killed essences of Titans and who has defeated gods, come back from Tartarus and still leads Camp Half-Blood as a counselor. You think he needs your help?"

Calypso brightened at the mention of Camp Half-Blood. "I know that camp! Percy had mentioned it; he mentioned you, Grover, Tyson-"

Annabeth cut her off. "Yeah, I know who's at Camp Half-Blood."

I couldn't believe that Annabeth was being so rude to her…why was she so angry towards Calypso? Annabeth narrowed her eyes again. "Did you give him the Odysseus treatment?"

Calypso tensed and clenched her jaw, as if forcing herself to not say anything about the subject. "Don't…you…ever…bring…him…up."

I wondered what actually happened; it's not called Greek _mythology _for nothing. Things tend to be exaggerated or made up to be more interesting for children or horror stories. I put a hand on Calypso's shoulder, and realized that she was holding herself back from hitting Annabeth. "Why don't we both just calm down…we're on the same side."

Calypso pointed towards Annabeth. "Your partner is being ridiculous! I try to be hospitable and nice, and she attacks me verbally as if I did something wrong."

Annabeth reached to her hip. "You did do something wrong. Did you give him the choice?"

Calyspo stopped and cocked her head. "What choice?"

"The choice to stay on your island and leave all of us behind. To become your immortal husband. You were in love with him, weren't you? You were in love with Percy Jackson. And you still love him."

My face felt hot as everybody looked at me, then at Calypso nervously; Thalia looked slightly guilty for some reason. Nico looked fascinated, Hazel was looking back and forth as if she couldn't get enough of it, and Jason was standing off to the side, taking in the surroundings but still listening to us.

Calypso was silent as she stared Annabeth down. Then she sighed. "It was my fate. I fell in love with him. He was funny, good looking, interesting, brave, sacrificing, caring, and had an affectionate cluelessness to him. I had to offer it. My feelings have not changed."

Calypso looked at me, which suddenly made me feel a rush of affection towards her. She still was in love with me…I should go talk to her…

Annabeth straightened up as if she had just won an argument. Malicious intent flashed in her eyes; I've never seen her like this. Ever.

"And why don't you think he stayed with you?"

Rage flashed in Calypso's eyes as in one swift movement, she kicked Annabeth in the stomach, sending her down to the ground. Calypso straightened up.

"You do not know anything about me, girl. Regarding the hero who came to my island before Percy, Odysseus sailed to the island and courted _me. _He stayed on the island for seven years, went back to the regular world out of fear of his wife, and claimed that I raped him. I couldn't do anything about it, because I was on house arrest on the island. Percy kept his promise and freed me as his wish for Olympus, and I traveled the world, seeing all the evil present in it. I saved Thalia's life."

Hazel gasped and threw a knife at Calypso. I caught the knife before it could hit her. Nico reached for his sword, but Thalia stood in front of him. "You want to try something, Death Boy?"

Nico looked confused. "Why are you on her side?! She just hurt Annabeth!"

Jason charged Calypso, but I stood in the way. Jason reached for his coin, but I uncapped Riptide.

"Don't."

Jason hesitated after that one word. I kept an eye on Jason as I rushed over to Annabeth, helping her up. She glared at me, but I refused to back down. "Calypso is on our side now, Annabeth. There is no reason why you should be angry. I washed up on her island, and she saved my life. Took me in, helped me with my injuries, then provided company for me. Nothing out of the ordinary. I helped her with her garden. She gave me the choice, and I chose to come back to the world. And then I freed her. That's it. I'm with you, Annabeth. Calm down. It was like three years ago."

Annabeth still looked like she was about to blow up, but she realized that I put her in a position where if she said something else after that, she would seem like the regular girlfriend who is out of control with her jealousy. She sighed and turned towards the ruined mountains. Already, they were starting to rebuild themselves. I wondered how Thalia managed to destroy a mountain and steal her father's bolt.

I coughed. "We need a plan. Named plan Percy Jackson. I want to fight her again. But where exactly did she go?"

Nico raised both eyebrows. "You're ready for round 2?"

Even in the hot day, I inhaled again. Thanatos had released my mental barriers from Tartarus, but somehow seemed to restore my abilities. I held out my hand and concentrated; immediately, a funnel of thin water was created in the air that I controlled and dispelled quickly at Nico.

He tried to dodge it, but it hit him right in the face. I grinned at him. "I've been ready."

Annabeth came up and held my hand, and I felt waves of apologetic energy coming from her. I thought that I saw Nico blush, but that might've been my imagination. I looked around. "Where's my bag?"

Nico looked behind him and brought my bag. I let go of Annabeth's hand and rummaged through, bringing out the tears. "Guys, we need to go to Hawaii. But what city should we be going to?"

Calypso spoke. "So that was what it meant. Before I go, Hermes mentioned something about…going to Hawaii, but going to the island of Hawai'i in the state of Hawaii. Something about going to a volcano underwater."

Annabeth nodded. "The volcano of Lōʻihi Seamount. It's underwater, off the southeast part of the island of Hawai'i."

I frowned. "So Hawai'i is different from Hawaii."

Annabeth nodded. "Right. And it would make sense; if this Rhodos figure is the daughter of Poseidon and is pretty much water itself, she would want to have a birthing point of Helios be underwater, and what better contradiction than to have an underwater volcano. It makes sense."

Annabeth…was actually agreeing with Calypso? Nice. Or weird. One of the two.

Jason raised an eyebrow. "So we're going to Hawai'i, Hawaii."

Hazel nodded. "Right. And while Percy goes and fights Rhode, we can work on our tans."

Everyone stared at her solemnly.

She shifted uncomfortably. "I was just kidding."

I took out the diamonds and put it in everyone's hands. For Calypso's and Annabeth's sake, I explained it again; "Get the diamonds wet somehow, and they'll turn into pure tears. Put them in your eye, rub it, think about where you want to go, blink, double over, and when you straighten back up, you'll be where you want to be. Be as specific as possible. Let's go."

We put the diamonds in our eyes and I thought of the island of Hawai'i, Hawaii. We were getting ready to get the trident. And stop Helios from rising.

I grinned to myself as my eye started to water.

Round 2.


	25. Chapter 25

**Percy POV**

I woke up with sand in my hair, a cool breeze running along my face. A seagull landed on my nose, and it cocked its head, looking at me curiously as if to say _Don't I know you? _

"Get off my face, bird."

The seagull squawked at me and flew away, attempting to defecate on my face, but I rolled away before it could get a chance to.

I stood up to my full height and looked around; there was pure blue skies all around, with about a two mile long beach that stretched along the horizon. All around me was huge, moss-covered rocks that looked really old, standing against the wave rushing in to the shore. The rocks were close together, and we could've played that one game that little kids play where the ground happens to be lava.

Except it might not be a game for us in a couple hours.

Blue water crashed against the rocks, and the sun blazed down right above the water; appropriate for the specific Titan that was forming underwater.

I looked behind me and saw Thalia stand up to her full height, looking around and putting her hands on her hips. It was _hot, _as if this island didn't put together the fact that clouds exist yet.

Annabeth stood up, and staggered, catching her balance on her own. Calypso had gotten up, and was looking around, smiling at our surroundings. "This is beautiful! Almost no human taint in it, and the water is nice and pure. Reminds me of the water in Ogygia."

Annabeth flashed a look, but didn't say anything. That was more like her; I wonder if her outburst had been all this pent-up energy from all these years. She's more of the type to hide her emotions, and then to have it get back at the person through subtle and wise ways that weren't _that _bad.

Hazel got up, looked around and pointed suddenly. "What's that cabin doing in the middle of the water?"

Nico got up and squinted his eyes. "There _is _a cabin. It's like fifty feet in the water, held by stilts. Doesn't look that bad, but it's probably much bigger on the inside. Especially since humans don't build cabins on water."

I looked at Annabeth. "Usually, residences aren't found on the water. So, should I call for the trident now, in case Helios and the Rhodos are in there sipping cups of tea, or what?"

Annabeth looked out to sea. "I don't think that the trident is going to be able to be given right away; Helios has a Titan's energy. It would be extremely difficult for Poseidon to send his trident in the territory of a Titan. If it wasn't, then we would already have his trident by now."

Jason hopped on a moss-covered rock. "I think we should head over there. It's obviously there for a reason. And plus, it might help us find Helios and the Rhodos. And we can do a couple of deified ass-kicking."

I grinned while Hazel swatted him lightly. "Jason has the right idea. But, Annabeth….you're saying that…"

Annabeth nodded gravely. "Helios' essence has already risen. We are already in his domain."

A cold feeling went through my spine; I wasn't sure if that was fear, or the Titan's aura going through my body.

I heard a splash behind me, and saw Jason and Thalia wading in the water, towards the cabin. Suddenly, a huge wave came out of nowhere, snatched the two of them up, and carried them quickly out to sea.

Calypso and I screamed, while Annabeth looked around to gain a feel for her surroundings. Both she and I sprinted and jumped into the water, Annabeth relying on her strong swimming skills. Calypso notched a bow and arrow and kept watch.

The water felt fine; I felt strong as I shot through the water. Jason was carried under by a wave, and I grabbed him, throwing him up towards the surface. I heard a scream in my head, _PERCY! THALIA! _

I whipped my head around quickly to see Thalia sinking towards the bottom, thrashing and flailing. I shot down towards the water, catching Thalia by the waist.

My breath caught in my throat when I saw what was on the sea floor.

A huge top of a volcano was poking out, as if the rest of the volcano was underground. The color was streaked with veins of orange and red lava, pulsing as if it was feeding something. Incalculable amounts of heat was spreading out from the top of the volcano, and bubbles formed as if it was getting ready to blow. I looked up and saw the Sun right over the spot that I was at, like directly over.

As the breath caught in my throat, water seeped through my windpipe. A chilling laugh erupted through the ocean. I grabbed my throat and Thalia fell away from me; I couldn't breathe anymore.

I was in the presence of the Titan Helios.

"_Little demigod…your time will come soon. My avatar has served me well."_

A cutting blast of pure energy blasted through me, propelling me through the water. 

Blasts of sunlight erupted from the volcano, almost imploding it from the inside out. An irresistible force pulled me towards the hole of the volcano, and when I came level with the hole, I saw a familiar guy lying in a searing hot pool of magma, his skin black and cracked with molten lava as if he was a volcano. Or a sun. He was inhaling and exhaling irregularly, as if it hurt to breath.

Despite the change in features, I recognized who it was by his Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt, his surfer's body, and his tall, athletic build.

The same person who had healed Annabeth and several other campers. The son of Apollo.

I was staring at the body of Will Solace.

I screamed in the water, "WILL!"

He looked at me and raised his arm towards me, as if asking me for help. Then he screamed, a broken and rocky scream.

I raced towards him, but his body started to glow sunlight from within. I yelled and screamed, but his body exploded in a blast of sunlight energy.

I was propelled away from the volcano, until I was caught by someone with really tanned arms, so much so that he looked Hispanic.

I kicked away from him and raced towards the bottom, screaming Will's name.

The dude materialized in front of me, and I got a full look at him. He had a full lifeguard outfit on, with the red shorts and everything. He had sunglasses on, and a cool, composed look.

He grinned at me. "Yep, definitely not human. You're late."

I frowned; late for what?

I got Riptide out, and his eyebrow raised at the sword. "You might want to put that down, youngblood. Professor Kane is not going to be happy about you being late."

Professor Kane?

He grinned. "I am Ukupanipo. Most people call me Uku. And I am the god of sharks, fishing, and-"

He grabbed the whistle around his neck and blew it; somehow I could still hear it. "-and my new domain, lifeguarding! It's pretty cool. And I look for sea gods who are late to the class."

I frowned again; who was this guy? I've never heard of a shark god. "Um, what are you talking about?"

He grinned and said, "Take notes. Be good."

He touched a finger to my forehead, and I fell straight into a seat in a classroom. The classroom was well lit like any other room, with regular size desks around the room in five columns. The desk that was supposed to be at the front of the room was replaced with a simple throne. On the throne sat a really tanned guy who looked like he was from Hawaii. He had muscles for days, and had sunglasses on. He wore a Hawaiian t-shirt, with cargo shorts. I looked around and saw my team; Annabeth, Hazel, Thalia, Jason, Nico, and Calypso all were spread out around the room. They all looked at me with horrified expressions.

I looked around and the rest of the students there just looked like young Hawaiian guys and girls, maybe like 19-25. But the thing was, there was so much power in the room that I was starting to itch.

The dude on the throne was accompanied by a guy who looked just like him, except he grew his hair out to a shaggy mess, and he didn't have that many muscles. He looked mad at the world; like he wanted to destroy it at any second. He stood next to the dude on the throne.

The dude on the throne stood up. "I am Professor Kane. Creator of the Universe and Light. And this is your first class on Hawaiian gods. I would appreciate it if people weren't late to my class."

He shot a look at us, who looked really out of place despite our tanned complexions. Nico just looked like he was glowing. Calypso looked kind of normal, but her beauty set her apart. All the girls were beautiful, but Annabeth and Calypso had them beat.

Some of the girls in my row turned their heads and waved at me flirtatiously.

Wait…

Hawaiian gods?

We were Greek. Hawaii has their own gods?

I scratched my head as Annabeth stood up. Everyone in the class trained their eyes on her, and she shifted uncomfortably. "Um, sir, we are not from around here. We were just travelers, and got caught up-"

Professor Kane flicked his finger downward and Annabeth sat down sharply as if being made to do it. "Nonsense. Ukupanipo found all of you in the water, or on the beach, so you must be gods. Especially you…."

He pointed slowly at me and looked at the clipboard that the dude standing next to him was holding. He looked back up at me. "You must be…Ku-waha-ilo, god of the ocean."

"Ku-wa-who?"

He looked at the clipboard. "Anyway, Aumakua, god of family?"

A dude that was sewing looked up and raised his hand. "Here."

"Elepaio, god of flies?"

A guy with a billion mosquito-bites raised his hand and said weakly, "Here…."

Professor Kane shook his head. "What did I tell you about that bug spray?"

The dude Elepaio shook his head and scratched like an animal.

"Haikili, god of thunder?"

Thunder rumbled outside as a ripped dude raised his hand. "Here, sir."

The class laughed, and it was so good-natured that I felt like laughing; I saw Hazel and Calypso laughing along with them.

"Haumea, goddess of birth?"

A girl who was really pretty was nursing a baby and raised her hand. "Here, Professor Kane. Hi'iaka is here, also. She just had a late luau."

He nodded and crossed the girl off her list. "Hi'aka, goddess of hula dancing, asleep. Check."

The class laughed and this time, I laughed along with them. Professor Kane had gone through the rest of the list, people who were attractive and powerful and ruled over certain domains in Hawaii. They had displayed their powers one way or another. This one person, Ku, reminded me badly of Ares, with his buff muscles and fire in his eyes. He had long hair and full armor on, with a huge sword strapped to his side.

This one girl, Namaka, was interesting. She had jet black hair with tanned skin and sea green eyes, who smiled at me. She was a sea goddess, and was learning how to be a proper deity along with everyone else in the class.

She looked at me and materialized a note on my desk, that said, _You don't look from around here. You're not really Hawaiian, are you? _

I looked at her and hesitated; she laughed and put a finger to her lips. My secret was safe with me.

At one point, I got tired of the whole thing and stood up. "Look, I'm sorry to lead you all on, but I'm not a god. I'm not even Hawaiian. I just know how to surf."

A hush fell over the entire class as everyone watched me. Slowly, Annabeth stood also, with everyone else in the team following along with us. Soon, we were all standing as Professor Kane looked at us through his emotionless shades. "Really? So you're telling me that you are in this class and aren't even Hawaiian? So how do we know that you're not some spy?"

I faltered. I didn't have a reason for that. Thunder rumbled outside, and I looked at Haikili, who was glaring at me. "Professor Kane, I think that we should kill him. And his outsider friends. They all look like him. Except for the pale one."

Nico narrowed his eyes. "Watch it, Thunder Boy."

Haikili stood up and thunder rumbled again. "You want to say that again, Chalk Boy?"

The dude standing next to the professor narrowed his eyes at Nico. "He's not a deity. The one with the blue eyes and the hunting outfit on, the one standing up with the long black hair, and the one that is really beautiful are all deities; the pale one has to do with the Greek god of death. Not a nice guy. The blonde girl is powerful, but not a deity. And the blonde male is the same."

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "You called Seaweed Brain a deity?"

He looked at Thalia. "I am Kanaloa, the god of the Underworld, and of the earth. And I know that one over there is a deity. Who are you people?"

Annabeth cleared her throat. "We are demigods. Children of major deities. The one with the shaggy black hair is the son of our sea god. The one with the blue eyes and the hunting outfit on is the daughter of our god of the sky and lightning. I am the daughter of the goddess of wisdom. The pale one is the son of the god of death and the Underworld. The blonde male is the brother of the one of the blue eyes, and the…pretty one is our ally, a deity from a prison that we released."

My team moved towards me and stood with me as I uncapped Riptide. "Look, we need to get out of here before the world that we know it is lost. So I'm going to walk out of here slowly…and you will not follow me."

I started to back up, hoping that what I bluffed would work. However, the huge one, Ku, stood up and unsheathed his massive sword. He held it up and grinned. "Come on, little demigod."

I narrowed my eyes; that's what Helios taunted me with. When he had Will Solace captured.

Anger boiled inside of me, and I could feel it rising to the brim. Riptide started to glow, and I held it up. "Shall we dance?"


	26. Chapter 26

**Percy POV**

His kick sent me straight through the cabin and landed hard on the beach. The water was reaching out to me, and I felt at full strength. Riptide was glowing as anger was coursing through me, and I got my mind in battle mode. He charged me, and as he was raising his sword to cut me in half, someone smacked him in the back of the head.

Namaka had swirled herself behind Ku using the water in the ocean. She had her hands on her hips and was looking at everyone furiously. "What is wrong with all of you? Since when do we fight over nonsense?"

Ku rubbed the back of his head, and the clouds that had appeared over the island disappeared. "Um, never? We just started being gods like 100 years ago."

Namaka nodded as Professor Kane was in the background, watching the whole thing. She sighed as she held my head, checking my injuries. Her power flowed through me, making me feel at peace. My body got stronger as if I was in contact with water, even though I was just in contact with her. "Perseus. That's your name."

I narrowed my eyes as I looked at her. "How did you know that?"

All the Hawaiian gods had moved outside and were standing where we were. My team moved a little reluctantly towards me, past all the powerful figures that were right next to them. Calypso and Annabeth looked a little tense, their hands on their weapons if Namaka touched me the wrong way.

She turned towards her family. "You remember our study of Greek mythology?"

Everyone nodded. Namaka looked towards me. "This is Perseus, the son of Poseidon that we read about. The most recent hero that has conquered several quests and monsters. Very commendable."

An uproar went up among the gods, and applause roared from all places. People surged over me, looking to touch me and look in my eyes. It was slightly weird. The goddess of the luau tackled me and was kissing me everywhere until Namaka pulled her off.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow with her arms crossed, a defensive stance. "You study Greek mythology even though you're Hawaiian gods?"

Namaka nodded. "We study all the pantheons of gods. We are a fairly new set of gods because we've only existed since people started living on these sets of islands. We make sure that we don't make the same mistakes that the other gods make that results in gruesome deaths and horror stories."

Annabeth nodded. Jason looked around. "So how exactly do you choose your reign of power as new gods?"

Namaka smiled. "It's based on our personalities, but it could've been different for your set of gods. If you look at your gods when they were younger, they might have had personalities that fit the reign that they were given, or it could've been the other way around. Their personalities could have resulted from the domains from which they were given."

Calypso nodded. "The reigns were chosen on the personalities, but the reigns of power sort of enhanced the personalities, if that makes sense."

Namaka nodded. "So you all are here to do what?"

I hesitated, but Hazel spoke up. "We have a threat; if this threat rises, the entire earth will be destroyed and remade, most likely."

Namaka looked at me. "And so you're here on this island? Let me ask you a question."

I looked in her green eyes, but they were glowing. It was a little unsettling.

"Do you believe in coincidences?"

I hesitated. As Greek heroes, we weren't supposed to believe in coincidences, but there have been several examples of things that seemed to happen by coincidence. That just happened to save my life. Like the healing of Thalia from her…stationary form seemed to be a coincidence, but that was Kronos' plan.

"I…I don't know."

She nodded as if she expected the answer. "You're telling me that out of all the islands on this planet, you got sent here to save the planet and you just happen to encounter another pantheon of gods? This would be very strange to believe."

I thought about what she said, and I could feel Annabeth thinking in my head; her wheels were turning pretty fast while mine were stationary.

Namaka said, "Well, just keep that in mind. But meanwhile, this threat…"

"It's kind of two threats."

She raised an eyebrow. "Explain this to me?"

"It….there's my sister who is extremely powerful and tough to beat. Then there's the Titan that she's trying to raise. It's going to be kind of hard to beat both of them."

Namaka nodded. "The Titans of Greek history. So have you beat your sister before?"

I hesitated again. "Not really…she kind of beat me down and killed me."

Calypso jumped in. "But he sacrificed his life to slow her down."

Nico jumped in also. "But he was returned the life of the living."

Jason finished the statement. "So he could beat his sister in a round two and stop this monster from rising."

Namaka nodded as I grinned at my team. I actually love them; I couldn't see where I would be without them. "So, you're outmatched…but I can feel that you have a lot of power. That's why Kanaloa classified you as a deity; you have the power of a god. I highly doubt that anyone could be able to beat you."

_Percy. We have to go. They're Hawaiian, and we shouldn't be talking to them. You see how much trouble we had caused with the Romans. _

_Annabeth, calm down. They seem nice. Namaka is saving my behind, and it would be slightly rude for us to just be like, 'Hey, thanks for saving me, but I'm going to leave now.' And plus, where would we go?_

_Somewhere other than here. _

_Annabeth…Will Solace was down there. _

…_.who?_

_Will. Will Solace. _

Silence was in my head.

I blushed at what Namaka had said when Annabeth forced a smile. She stepped forward and held my hand. "That's Percy…Perseus. He is always so humble. But we kind of have to go."

_Annabeth. _

I looked at Annabeth, who was staring at me. _Where did you see him? _

_An underwater volcano. He was in there, and I literally could not breathe or control water around him._

Sadness and regret cut through my mind. _Are you sure that was him?_

_Yes. _

_We need to save him. He didn't deserve that…even though he found himself in that predicament._

_What do you mean? _

_Demigods can't be used as hosts unless they offer themselves willingly. _

I was suddenly uncomfortable, but I couldn't see why Will would give himself up to Helios. In the background, Professor Kane stood up from his throne. He would have been able to view everything from the hole that I made in the cabin. Everyone automatically trained our eyes to him as he glided forward with his look alike, Kanaloa.

He stopped about five feet from me and stared me down. He probably had me by about 6 inches, and spoke in a deep, commanding voice. "This lad does not know what he is capable of. He needs training if he is to succeed in his quest. That is why he was brought here. Give him and his friends some Hawaiian hospitality and training, if they wish. No more aggression for today."

He looked at me, and his wave of power washed over me. "Perseus, Namaka will train you. Her being the goddess of water and her similar appearance to you, she will be a valuable trainer to you."

Namaka smiled at me and held out her hand. "This should be fun."

Professor Kane looked at me. "You have potential, but if released right, you will be even more formidable. Ku will train you in your swordsmanship."

Ku nodded reverently, his attitude towards me completely different after Namaka said who I was to everyone. The apparent attitude of his massive sword hadn't changed though. It still hung from his side in an attempt to intimidate who came near it.

"Haikili will teach you how to use your anger well."

Haikili cracked his knuckles and thunder cracked above. He saluted to me; his muscles bulged in comparison to mine.

"Paka'a will teach you how to use the wind to your advantage."

This guy with the most windblown hair winked at me as he rode an air sphere like Aang from the Last Airbender.

"Pele will teach you how to use storms and natural disasters and the Poli'ahu' will teach you how to use cryokinesis."

Pele was a young girl of about 12, who smiled at me and waved. The Poli'ahu' were twin teenagers who looked like Zoe's sisters. Their silver eyes cut through me as I waved at them. "Hi."

They smiled and giggled as annoyance flashed through my head from Annabeth.

However, I couldn't get out of my mind…the image of Will Solace, the son of Apollo with that thing in him, the Titan who was killing him. I don't even know if he was still alive or not.

But one thing I do know.

I am going to save Will Solace.


	27. Chapter 27

**Percy POV**

I had trained for a week here, but haven't seen Annabeth or anyone else whatsoever. I tried my empathy link, but it was as if someone just cut the wire. This wasn't a good sign. The gods and goddesses here were nice enough, but I missed my friends. This was the last day of training, and it was officially, the worst day ever.

Things I had learned:

How to turn into water (finally), how to summon earthquakes on command, how to fly using solid water vapor, how to heal myself using the hydrogen and oxygen in the air, and how to freeze an entire body of water.

I slumped down against the tree next to me; it was pretty painful, considering that I was shirtless and drenched with sweat and blood, and the thing I was leaning on happened to be a _tree. _

I looked straight on towards Haikili, who was sitting in his hammock, sipping a margarita-like drink. It was only about 7:00, and I only had a nice Snickers bar. Because I'm not me when I'm hungry.

Annabeth and the rest of the team were in the nice, air-conditioned room that the Hawaiian gods had provided for them. This was so weird; an entire pantheon of gods that just happened to show up where we were. I still needed to get this trident and go back down to save Will Solace.

My body was on E, though.

"_Relax, and focus on the water." _

"_Got it." _

"_No distractions." _

"_Yeah." _

_She looked at me, my peripheral vision taking note of her mouth form a smile. "You're pretty cool." _

_I rolled my eyes in my mind, but kept my focus. She had gotten me with that the last time. The water rose up and started to turn straight into water vapor as I focused, one drop of sweat pouring down my forehead._

_Suddenly, she grabbed my crotch and started stroking it. I had a sharp intake of breath from the contact as the water crashed down to the ocean, settling straight into the body of water. _

_Namaka sighed. "Really?" _

_I sank to my knees and pounded the ground with anger. "Damn it!" _

_Namaka rubbed my back. "Sorry for the frisky gesture, but your girlfriend claimed that your sister had an unhealthy obsession with you. She's going to do much more than that if you gain the upper hand, to distract you." _

_I stood up shakily and nodded. "Yeah…right." _

_She looked at me. "Again. Focus." _

"_Got it." _

I had gotten woken up at 3 in the morning to train with Namaka until 4. That was relatively nice, we just focused on concentration and the movement of the waves. Learned how to go with the flow and worked on transpiration, evaporation, and freezing. I finally mastered it after about forty-five minutes, mostly because it was all review.

Just when I figured that I should go to sleep, Riptide appeared in my hand and I got furiously attacked by Ku, the god of swordsmanship. He was one of the most formidable adversaries that I've ever faced, much better than Chrysaor when I had sparred against him. Somehow, I held my own against the skilled god, and we fought for a literal hour.

"_You're getting tired, Greek." _

_I frantically raised Riptide as his blade crashed against mine with a resonating clang. I rolled and tried to take his legs out, but he stabbed downward with his sword. My body reacted on its own, parried the blade, and disarmed him. _

_He held his hand out and the blade flew to him, but it had given me enough time to get up and focus. Like Namaka said. _

_Blood rushed in my ears as I concentrated on Ku. Suddenly, he wasn't there. _

_I heard a whistling sound through the air. _

_I ducked as a blade slashed the air that my neck was just at, and I kicked Ku in the chin. His head snapped back, but he spun around and slashed at me again. I parried it with Riptide, then decided to get on offense. I feinted and struck for his ear, earning a grin from him. "Good. Way to be on offense." _

_I attacked him viciously, way tougher than when I had fought Rhode. He parried all my strikes, but his blocks were getting weaker and weaker, and he was starting to get luckier and luckier. I grinned as I bucked at him with an overhead strike. His arms went straight up to block the strike. As expected, he realized the feint immediately and got back to his original stance. But I executed an overhead strike, hitting him in the shoulder with the hilt of the blade. _

_It hit him with a nice _thunk, _and he fell to the ground, wincing in pain. I turned around and kicked him in the face, sending him to the ground. He rubbed his chin, summoned his sword and saluted at me. "That was very good. Very good. There isn't a swordsman or swordswoman I know that would be able to block a double feint overhead strike. Not bad at all." _

_He advanced towards me, and we fought again. _

We had fought for about 10 more minutes. He just suddenly disarmed me with one easy stroke, as if he had been going at half speed the whole time, shook my hand, and then disappeared. Then, I almost lost my life when a huge storm erupted where I was, and I encountered Pele. She was interesting; she used adrenaline to keep me alive.

"_MOVE, Greek!" _

"_I AM MOVING!" _

"_NO, YOU'RE NOT!" _

_I was sprinting away from the tornado that was looking to devour me. The winds were pulling me slowly into it as my feet left the ground, my momentum slowing down and beginning to pull me to the storm. _

"_YOU WILL DIE!" _

"_I WILL NOT!" _

_I grabbed on to a palm tree for dear life, which stopped my movement for a little bit, but the tree uprooted and I flew towards the tornado. I got smacked in the face with the winds, and I got picked up and pulled towards the wind. _

_I gritted my teeth. This was NOT how I was going down. _

_I focused on the ground, and immediately, my body sank to the ground like Thalia's Aegis. I fell right to the ground, the winds not affecting me whatsoever. My feet sunk in, holding me in place. _

_The girl with the ponytail and the rebellious, pretty face landed in front of me, shaking the earth. She curled her lip up in disgust. The earth started to shake; earthquake. My feet got pulled down instantly, and I started to sink at an alarming rate. "Use your adrenaline, half-blood. Escape me. Escape Nature's wrath." _

_I looked around as I searched for a way out of this. She shook her head in contempt. "Don't use your brain, Greek. Use your body-"_

_She waved her hand and suddenly, Annabeth was led in the tornado with Rhode gripping her throat. I thought it was an illusion until Rhode squeezed her throat and Annabeth made a sound from her mouth. A scream. "PERCY!" _

_Pele laughed as my eyes sparked with anger. I willed the earth to push me back up and sprinted towards the tornado. _

"_-and use your instincts." _

_I was an animal. I sprinted into the tornado and jumped as high as I could, getting carried up by the winds, swirling around and around…_

_But I got thrown to the ground. I scrambled up to see a guy with windblown hair in the wind, smiling at me viciously. "I am Paka'a. God of the wind. Get ready, half-blood, for your training." _

_I gritted my teeth. I had had enough of this nonsense. _

"_ENOUGH!" _

_I stomped on the ground, but instead of my impact making a soft, normal sound, they made a sound like a tree slamming on the ground. _

_Power ran through my muscles, and the earthquake stopped abruptly. The winds calmed and Paka'a fell to the ground, his domain of power crushed. I held my hand and searched for a source of power in the general direction of my hand. Resistance hit me, but I closed my fist determinedly. Pele's limp body flew to my hand, and an impact hit my hand. _

_Suddenly, I had her throat in my fist, holding her up in the air. She thrashed in my grip, but it was unescapable. She grabbed at my hand, but I wasn't letting go. Her eyes started to lose the anger that was in them. I growled at her, "Leave…me…alone." _

_She nodded quickly and I threw her to the ground. She gasped for breath, clutching her throat. I looked at Paka'a, who was still on the ground as if he was sleeping. _

The weather cleared immediately and Haikili had appeared next to me, kicking me against this tree and telling me to stay there with no food. I've been against this tree for the last thirty minutes, watching Haikili lay in his hammock and eat huge amounts of food and drink. I haven't seen any of my team since 11:30 in the morning.

Anger rose inside of me as my muscles tensed. Haikili looked up, and smirked. "Calm your anger down, half-blood. You need to learn how to control your anger before you hurt somebody."

I seethed. "And it makes sense for you to just relax like that?! And for me to lie here as if I got my ass kicked?"

Haikili nodded nonchalantly. I sighed and lay my head back on the tree. He looked at his watch and finally got out of his hammock, helping me up.

"Good job. Half-hour with no outburst of anger _after _an outburst of anger."

Suddenly, I was in a bedroom, sitting on a bed with a pencil and paper. I looked around; it was decorated with waves of the ocean, but on the walls were posters of hot women. I sighed. The only thing I needed to train with today was the Poli'ahu or something, the girls of ice.

I stood up and tried the door, but it was locked. I turned back to the bed and saw a sexy girl in a Santa bikini on her body. Her silver eyes concentrated on me. I closed my eyes.

"Woah. I didn't know you were changing. Look, I already know how to control ice. You don't have to train me. And plus, I haven't eaten all day."

Someone cleared her throat, and when I opened my eyes, there were two girls, who looked like each other but not exactly identical. They brought me to the bed and handed me the pencil and paper. When they spoke, the ice cloud came from their mouths as if they were outside in the snow. In the iciest voice, they said in unison, "We already know that you can control ice. But can you control your hormones? According to your friends, your sister is sexually attracted to you. You need to control yourself so you will not get distracted, like our sister taught you."

"Why do you think people take cold showers when they're aroused? Your job is to write your name, first and last name, on the paper as many times as possible. You will last for five minutes, and then your training is over for the week. Your friends will be waiting outside."

That statement alone was enough to get me to start writing.

Percy Jackson.

Percy Jackson.

Percy Jackson.

Percy Jack-

I stopped writing when one of them stroked my back, feeling over the small of my back. Despite my curse being gone, tingles still went through my body. I closed my eyes as I tried to control myself.

I opened my eyes to see Rachel right in front of me, with just lingerie on. She kissed my neck. "Percy….come to me…"

I took a breath, but it came out shaky and weak. 'Rachel' kissed me long and slow, as she started to push me down. Annabeth's face popped in my mind and I threw 'Rachel' off of me, continuing to write. I was going well for a good five minutes with fifty times, when someone else's hands slid under my shirt and over my abs. The fingers were so cold that I jumped, but the person turned me around, and my breath caught in my throat.

It was Calypso.

With absolutely no clothes on.

I wonder what Odysseus saw when he saw Calypso like this; because I know exactly what was going through my mind. Hey, cut me some slack. I'm a teenage guy.

But even still, Annabeth holding on to that ledge and her gray eyes looking straight at me flashed through my mind. New strength came to me as I turned forcefully from her and continued to write my name. Another five minutes passed when someone kissed my neck and nibbled on my ear.

I turned around defiantly and saw Annabeth right in front of me, with just a thong on. I consciously tried to close my mouth and start writing, but she pushed me down to the bed, straddling me and kissing me.

Suddenly, she moaned, "Luke…"

Anger rose inside of me as I threw her off of me and started writing frantically.

_This is just an exercise. This is just an exercise. _

I continued to write until I was suddenly on a beach, sitting on my butt and shivering. My shirt was still off, but my injuries were healed. Professor Kane stood over top of me, looming so high that he looked like he was scraping the sky. He grinned down at me, and his deep voice calmed me. "Just finished with the Poli'ahu?"

I stood up and gritted my teeth. "That was inappropriate and unnecessary. You could've just trained me like-"

"Like normal people? Like you have been all your life? And you got your ass kicked? Did I miss something?"

I shut my mouth as he waved his hand. Strong hands suddenly helped me up, and Jason grinned at me. "My man. How was it? You have to promise to tell me all about it."

I grinned back at him and dapped him up. Someone jumped on my back, and I knew it was Hazel because she loves doing that. Nico smiled and saluted to me. "You look strong and tough. Kind of like the River Styx. But a little different."

I shook my head. "That was…memorable."

Someone smacked me on the back of the neck, shocking me, and hugged me. "I missed you, dumbass."

Thalia. I grinned in her black hair. "I missed you, Pinecone Face."

Someone peeled Thalia off of me and tackled me with a hug. Her nails dug into my skin with happiness; I just saw a flash of blonde. Someone was kissing me all over, and suddenly, she was straddling me when I was on the ground.

Except she had her clothes on.

Annabeth smiled at me and kissed me again. "You look…different. In a good way. I missed you, Seaweed Brain."

I figured things were good between us, so I picked her up Superman-style and kissed her. "You were the only thing that kept me going."

And it was true. She beamed at me and I kissed her again.

Calypso stood in the background and smiled at me, genuinely happy for us. Apparently, she still has a LOT to learn about humanity.

Professor Kane cleared his throat. "Thank you for going through our program. However, we sensed a power fluctuation over the ocean."

I looked at Annabeth, who had sobered up as quickly as I did. "You think that it could be his sister?"

Kane nodded. "I know. I know everything. Me and Kanaloa, that's our job."

"Kanaloa and _I," _Annabeth corrected.

Kane rolled his eyes as everyone laughed. Thalia sighed. "The only girl I know who can be a Grammar Nazi to a god of creation. Good job."

Annabeth flipped her hair mockingly. "You know, I try."

Everyone laughed for a little bit until I got Riptide out. "Where is she?"

He closed his eyes. "Honolulu. A while from here. But you have a guest. Your….baby brother? He said he brought you some 'rainbow ponies' or something?"

I grinned. Thalia laughed out loud. "Tyson! Oh my gods, I haven't seen him in forever!"

Annabeth smiled lovingly. "And he brought us hippocampi. Not bad, Tyson."

She smiled at me. "Not bad."

I grinned as Jason and Hazel looked lost. "What are hippocampi?"

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Rainbow ponies that swim. We just said that."

That must've been the first joke Nico has ever made.

Maybe the world is actually ending.


	28. Chapter 28

**Jason POV**

I was trained to be a Roman.

Trained to be fearless, strong, and a leader. Powerful, fair, and wary. Prepared for anything, and ready to do whatever it takes to defuse the threat and save as many lives as possible. All because of my father.

Funny how your parentage defines you, huh? If I was some child of Hecate, no one would actually care. Oh, son of the goddess of magic? Maybe he can pull a rabbit out his hat or something.

Son of Morpheus? Maybe he can have dreams that look into the future. However, when you're the son of Jupiter, everyone expects you to be the leader and to take charge of the entire situation. To be the most powerful person on the battlefield.

To be two years old, damn there a toddler, and was separated from my drunken actress mother and from Thalia.

"_Mommy! What you doin'?" _

_Mommy looked at me. She looked really pale and sweaty. Ewww. She wiped her head and drank her bottle that we weren't supposed to touch. She burped, but she didn't say excuse me. Haha._

_She picked me up, it was fun. I laughed. "Do it again! Again!" _

_She smiled at me, but it made me want to cry. "Not right now. Come on, honey. We have to get you to the Wolf House." _

"_What's the Wolf House?"_

_She hit me and I fell. I cried, and she hit me again, and told me, "Stop crying, you little brat. Just be quiet. You ask too many questions. Your father will be home any minute." _

_I stopped crying. Where's Daddy? _

_A voice said, "You said that yesterday, and Daddy's not here." _

_Thala. She walked in the room and hugged me. It felt good. I hug her back. She smile, and Mommy started crying. She pick us up and put us in car, and starts to drive. Faaaaaassst. I had my seatbelt on. A voice comes from the radio, a woman's voice. "FASTER! FASTER!" _

_Thala held my hand tight. I said, "I'm scared, Thala." _

_She shook her head. "No, Jason. My name is Thalia." _

"_Okay, Thala." _

_She looked at my lip. "Your lip's getting better. What did you learn from your mistake?" _

_I smiled. "Keep eating staplers!" _

_Thala smiled and I laughed. _

I shook off the vision and looked over at Thalia as we glided across the water on these 'rainbow ponies.' She had matured so much, and I remember when I looked at Annabeth's photo album. When I first saw Thalia and she looked grown up, like 15 or 16. My age. But that was impossible. She was older than me.

I remember the first time I saw her, and our hug. The tears. The battle moments, where she didn't want to lose me again. She was powerful, too. One of the most powerful people I have ever encountered in my life. I had forgotten what having a family was like. To have someone be equal to you. On your level.

My father isn't the type of person to come to your soccer games. He kind of has to run Olympus. With _his _family of like fifty people.

Not that it matters, though. Look how I turned out. Just fine.

With some mental issues.

Thala snored a little bit, and I smirked. To this day, I still call her Thala. She was lying on the rainbow pony that was like galloping on the waves, and was fast asleep. She had grown into a beautiful woman…much more beautiful than our alcoholic mother. From the time I had first seen her, I thought she was a perfect sister to me.

Until Annabeth told me she was part of the Hunters. They had offered Reyna a spot there. Now my sister was immortal, cursed to watch everyone that she knows and loves die while she stays the same age. Unless she dies in battle. But then again, she is the daughter of Jupiter. Or Zeus.

We don't necessarily have the best endings. The best one was Perseus, but the dude named after him with the amazing life is riding in front of me with his huge Cyclops friend Tyson.

He was weird. Ever since a year ago when I met him, the Cyclops would always try to touch every girl. He eventually learned that it's not okay, since he has a girlfriend. That harpy Ella. That's so weird.

I looked around the team. Everyone seemed at peace, or was catching up on sleep. But me, as a leader, was trained not to need sleep. I can just shock myself awake and I will be completely alert and ready. Like the wolf said.

To be trained by Lupa for years.

"_Move, human." _

_She snarled and I ran from her. She barked and I heard barks behind me. She had called her pack and they were all running towards me. I jumped into the creek and I almost got frostbite from jumping in too fast. I heard the wolves gather around where I dove._

"_You're going to have to come up for air sometime, human." _

To travel to the camp at 12 years old and begin my official Legion training.

_I walked into the doors of the first cabin that I saw, shivering from the cold outside. There was snow on the ground, and my breath was visible when I walked in. I walked in slow. _

_But I was ready to kill. Like Romulus and Remus. _

_Lupa did a good job of training me. Ready for anything._

_Ready to attack anything…or anyone that was going to ambush me. My sword was in my lightweight jacket, in the form of a coin. Pretty cool gift that was in the pocket of my jacket. Lupa claimed that it was from my father, but I don't tend to give my father that much credit. I'm only 12. _

_I took a step inside the cabin, and cots were on the ground of the cabin. Suddenly, a sound of a sword sheathing erupted near me and I had a sword to my throat. I breathed heavily and deeply, ready or my head to be cut off. I deserved it, being so dumb. _

_I sneered. "Not many people can sneak up on me." _

_She sneered back. "Not many people are dumb enough to walk into a random cabin without scoping for any person or monster." _

_She had a point. I had fought my fair share of monsters, and the only reason why I was still here was because I had followed Lupa and was ready for anything. _

_Her brown eyes were streaked with silver as they bore onto me. Her jet black hair made her slightly taller than me, and it irritated me to the fullest. "A bit old to be a new recruit, yes?"_

_I gritted my teeth. "Youth does not guarantee innovation." _

_She stayed completely still, with the sword still at my neck. Immediately, she answered back, "And age does not guarantee efficiency." _

_I looked at her the best that I could with my life in her hands. She was really pretty. "Jason. Jason Grace." _

_No normal person would have noticed it, but a tiny shiver had gone through Reyna's body. As Lupa drilled into me, names have power. _

_That means I have power. Yay. _

_She looked annoyed, but she responded, "Reyna." _

_I raised an eyebrow. "Any last names? Or you're like Hercules?" _

_She pressed the sword up more towards my neck. "You tell anyone, I will cut out your tongue and feed it to my dogs." _

_Barely able to make out words, "Fine." _

"_Reyna. Reyna Warchild. But you will address me as Reyna."_

I thought about Reyna…her enmity with Piper. She was so bitter all the time, and yet Aphrodite claims that she loves me.

I still don't know about my feelings for her. Wait…am I really talking about feelings?

To defeat Thasador, son of Mars, to be inducted into the Fifth Legion.

"_GO JASON!"_

"THASADOR!"

"YOU BETTER BEAT THIS MALE MODEL!"

"JASON!" 

_I looked straight ahead, and saw Reyna in the crowd, nodding her head towards me. Her eyes locked with my eyes, as she was silently telling me to keep my guard up. _

_This was against Thasador, son of Mars. This was because he was bullying one of the ten year olds that were in the camp, some small defenseless girl._

_He was nineteen, 6'5, 230 pounds of pure muscle and anger. I, on the other hand, was fifteen years old, and 160 pounds. He gritted his teeth and attacked mercilessly. _

_My sword was a blur as I parried all his strikes, then I leapt in the air, kicking his sword away from him. He tried for a generic kick, but I caught his leg and thrust it as high in the air as I could. He took flight and landed hard on his back, painfully. I stabbed downwards to end him, but he rolled for his life. He back handed me with a closed fist, taking out a couple teeth and forcing me to cough up blood. He hit hard. _

_I got up, but was kicked in the chest. I fell back to the ground as I saw stars. I lay on the ground and saw Reyna's feet barely take one step towards me. She was debating whether or not to save me and my reputation, or to follow the Roman way. _

_Thasador grinned barbarically. "Is that it, son of Jupiter? Oh, who's so high and mighty now?! You will learn to worship Mars as the most important god. F*$% Jupiter! And your mom! Probatio!" _

_The crowd oohhed at those taunts, and I saw Reyna's feet break into a jog. I gritted my teeth…what did he possibly know about my mother? _

_And probatio? I wasn't any ordinary new guy. _

_Energy coursed through me like a vibrator. I got up quickly and gave him a roundhouse kick. But this wasn't an ordinary one. This was one charged with lightning. So when I kicked him, my force alone took his jaw out of place, but the lightning in my kick sent him back thirty feet and onto the ground. The crowd gasped and moved out my way as I advanced towards him, raising my sword to finish him. To disrespect my mother and my father like that, he deserves to die. _

_I brought the sword down…and heard Reyna cry, "NO!" _

_I wasn't intending to kill him, anyway. _

_My sword stuck in the grass RIGHT next to his face, and his eyes swelled like balloons. _

_Footsteps were heard and I looked up to see a pale boy with a black sword strapped to his black jeans. He had shaggy hair and dark, brooding eyes. He looked like he just stepped out of a goth magazine. He looked at me and whistled. "Even better than Michael Varus, a couple years ago."_

_Under his breath, he muttered, "Maybe as good as Jackson." _

_I narrowed my eyes at him. "Who are you?" _

_He grinned dryly. "A friend. You, come with me to the main hall. Reyna, you too. Everybody else, clean this mess up." _

_Everyone seemed to follow his authority, though reluctantly._

_I looked back at Reyna, who shrugged and moved with me towards the main hall with this 'friend.' _

To be elected co-praetor with Reyna.

_Roars of cheering and applause erupted from every corner of the hall, as Reyna grinned at me. She held out her hand and I looked at it with inquiry in my expression. She smiled, rolled her eyes, and grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers. I would've blushed if I was capable of doing so. However, she was capable, and blushed slightly._

_We raised our hands together, and the whole hall went wild. Though, I spotted one figure in the corner; the goth guy, standing in the shadows with his arms folded. He nodded towards me, stepped back and disappeared. I wondered if he was a god. _

_Probably not. _

_He's too skinny. He could use a cheeseburger. _

Not to say the praetorship wasn't tough. All the beatings for being weak and allowing someone else to defeat the drakons (even though they volunteered), all the things that I had to pass up because of my heritage. The looks that people would give me as I held my head high and defeated Titans with my bare hands.

_Reyna's silver eyes bore into me. They turn from brown to silver, based on the season. Krios laughed from the top of the mountain, his ram horns visible from the bottom of the mountain. _

"_You can't defeat him by yourself." _

_I grinned at her. "Of course I can. I'm Jason Grace." _

_She blushed a little, but shook it off vehemently. "NO. I'm coming with you." _

_She started to walk past me, but I stopped her. Her eyes flashed with anger and her hand flashed to her belt. However, I was waving her sword in front of her face. "Getting too predictable, Reyna. I got this. Stay here and keep watch." _

"_You have no weapon." _

_I threw her sword back at her and reached in my pocket, vainly hoping that the coin had reappeared somehow in my pocket. Reyna shook her head. "You lost it when Octavian knocked it over the mountain back in Alaska. Come on, Jason. Let me come with you." _

"_No." _

_She glared at me, but I gave her my wolf stare. It was no comparison. She realized I wasn't backing down from this, and sighed. "If you're going to go fight Krios and die because you have no weapon, don't say I didn't warn you." _

_I started up the mountain, but I stopped. I turned back and grinned. "You didn't warn me." _

_She rolled her eyes, and jogged up the mountain. I was ready to stop her when she grabbed my shirt and kissed me. "Be safe, half-blood. Come back alive for me." _

_I looked up at Krios, who had a storm swirling around him. "Hopefully, I'll be back in a flash." _

_I headed up the mountain. _

I sighed and looked out towards the sea. I saw land, but it was still a while away. I looked around and saw Calypso riding on the rainbow pony, wide awake. I narrowed my eyes as I looked at her. She was scary to me, making me feel uncomfortable with her beauty and her capabilities. Someone who was able to hold their own against the Rhodos and come back at full strength?

"_Do not think I will not kill a daughter of Aphrodite." _

I mean, come on. Completely bad-ass. But her being the daughter of Atlas? Could she beat Reyna in a sword fight? Could she beat Hercules in a fight? Gods? Titans? She had power. Atlas must've passed down his strength to her.

Percy defeated him, though. I wondered if I could beat Atlas with my bare hands.

Percy Jackson.

The only person I will ever let steal the spotlight from me. I remember being taught by Lupa about the differences that the Romans and the Greeks had when it came to living style and battle training; Romans were more warlike and militant while Greeks were more carefree and joking.

And yet they had respect for each other.

Like I do with Jackson. Him being the son of Poseidon, I figured it was the Fates making fun of our parents by making us two of the most powerful demigods of existence. And having us live in the same century. And in the same decade. And meet each other and fight with each other. And become friends. And become strong friends, like brothers. And to defeat Gaea together.

Our girlfriends were best friends. It was cute, in a way, but when Piper was mad at me, then Annabeth would also be mad, and force Jackson to be mad at me also. All along, I didn't know what was going on. Whatsoever.

Strong feelings of affection ran through my body as I thought about Piper. I then thought about Reyna…she was my best friend, actually. Not anything more, though.

I started to itch.

The only times I itch is when there's a strong source of power nearby.

I looked around; we have a pretty powerful roster.

Annabeth Chase, the intelligent and sensible daughter of Athena. Architect of Olympus.

Calypso, the fierce and magical daughter of Atlas. Protector of Ogygia.

Thalia Grace, the immortal daughter of Zeus. Lieutenant of Artemis.

Tyson, the super strong son of Poseidon. Leader of the Underwater Army of Poseidon. UAP.

Nico Di Angelo, the powerful son of Hades. Heir to the throne and shadow traveler.

Hazel Levesque, the expert daughter of Pluto. Protector of Arion.

Percy Jackson, the invincible son of Poseidon. Savior of the world.

And me. So like I said, pretty powerful, but I never itched before this.

Calypso turned to me, startling me with her caramel eyes. "Do you feel that also?"

I nodded and cupped my eyes. "Sight of an eagle," I muttered.

It was a new trick that my father showed me since the eagle is his favorite animal. Or formally, his 'sacred' animal. My eyesight sharpened about one hundred times, and my heart rose to my throat.

I saw one figure standing on the shore of the island that we were heading towards. Bloody bodies of adults and children lay on the beach, dying it a morbid red as opposed to a peaceful, glittery color. The pale head of a child rolled into the sea.

She had two swords by her side, and they were dripping with blood. The swords were a _dark _obsidian blue and had inscriptions on the side. They radiated power, and I didn't think Percy's Riptide or my sword were any match for her swords. They had an ancient power and authority to them.

She was looking down to the sand.

She smiled to the ground, then looked behind her as a volcano stood commandingly. It had jagged streaks in it that glowed with sunlight energy; Helios was forming in there. I saw fire rise up from the volcano; then puffs of smoke; not unlike the whinnying of Helios' infamous sun horses.

She looked back towards my line of vision, looking beautiful, but yet crazed. "Grace."

My throat constricted as she laughed. "Greek fire. It's amazing, isn't it?"

I looked at the mutilated corpses of bodies on the beach that they were enjoying peacefully. That wasn't a product of Greek fire.

As if reading my mind. She laughed. "No. I did that by myself. I'm talking about the fact that there's Greek fire bombs all over the islands of Hawaii. In an hour, they will blow, and the force will rise Helios out of the abyss, killing the host."

Will Solace. I had heard about him.

She smiled straight at me. "Scared? I hope so. Tell Calypso that Jackson will die for real this time. Dying just isn't my style. But it looks great on him. And tell Jackson that I'll be looking for a round two."

"So what's it going to be? A feeble attack on me, and then pray to whatever pathetic gods are up there that you can stop Helios' rising before he destroys the planet, or let him rise as you defuse all the bombs. And _then _the Earth will die. Your choice. Free will, right?"

She smiled as she waved a hand, disconnecting my eagle vision very painfully. I looked around and everyone was covering their ears, sweating or brooding. I gulped, but my Roman expression was plastered to my face. "Did anyone else hear that?"

Nico rubbed his head, and he was sweating profusely. "I think we all heard it."

Jackson gritted his teeth, and he looked like someone else completely. He grabbed the pen and uncapped it so it sprang to its full size.

"Screw her. Team, you get the bombs out of here and away from all types of populated cities."

He gritted his teeth and I could see several things. I could see why Reyna fell for him. I could see why Annabeth loves him. I could see why he is the greatest hero to ever live. I could see why he was the praetor of Camp Jupiter. I could see why everyone looked up to him. I could see how dangerous he would be if he was on the wrong side.

His wolf stare was intact as he stared right at his sister, climbing onto the bow of the ship. He looked fearless, and angry, and growled like a wolf, with an animal tone underlying his statement.

"She's mine."


End file.
